Nico Porteous claims first-ever men’s OWG gold for NZL with halfpipe win

“It was a pretty wild day out there with the wind,” Wise send when it was all over, “But you know, that’s part of our  competition – you can’t always schedule it on the perfect day. To come out and land my first run, obviously quite a bit of a different story from the last Olympics, but I’m just super proud to be out here still hanging in there with these guys.”

“I’m really impressed by Nico’s skiing today,” Wise went on, “He pretty much did the run he wanted to do in spite of the wind, whereas myself and Alex (Ferreira, USA, bronze medal winner), we scaled back a little bit and landed a run we thought would do well on this day. So, all in all, it was a pretty good contest. I’m stoked to be here.”

One of the burlier skiers in the halfpipe world, Wise acknowledged that size might have contributed to his ability to get it done on Saturday.

“If anything, when it’s really windy, it’s kind of a little bit of an advantage for me because I have these guys outweighed by 30 or 40 pounds (laughs),” Wise said, “So you know, you just kind of embrace it and say, ‘All right, this is the conditions that it is’. Certainly, we would all like it to be a little nicer but you have to go out there and do what you can on this day.”

As Wise mentioned, his teammate Alex Ferreira was also able to step it up in Saturday’s finals despite the challenges, as the PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist was able to stomp his first run to grab another piece of Olympic hardware by taking Beijing 2022 bronze.

Ferreira’s 86.75-scoring first run began with a switch left 720 Japan, followed by a right double cork 1260 mute, then a left double cork 1440 safety, into a switch right double cork 1080 Japan, and finally a left double cork 1260 safety to finish things off for a score 86.75.

“I’m ecstatic,” Ferreira smiled from the mixed zone, “Just to be on the podium is unbelievable. It was such a difficult contest with some really tough conditions, so to be able to share the podium with my teammate, David Wise, and a friend, Nico Porteous, is a true joy. 

“It feels unreal. We’re a bunch of workhorses, I guess (laughs). The hardest workers get up on the podium and Dave’s a great friend of mine. He’s a good person. Nico’s a good friend of mine. He inspires me. They both do every day.”