Wise, Ferreira Bring Home Silver and Bronze
The 'Good Vibes Crew' got the job done in the halfpipe final on Saturday, Feb.19 despite frigid and windy conditions. David Wise collected his third medal in his third Olympics, taking home silver behind New Zealand's Nico Porteous. Alex Ferreira took home bronze, his second Olympic medal in his second Olympics.
Both athletes scaled their first runs back a bit due to weather in homes a strong run with solid grabs would land them a podium position, and both were right.
Wise threw a gutsy first run to claim silver that began with a switch right 900 lead tail grab, into a switch left double cork 1080 mute, then a right 900 lead tail, a left double cork 1260 mute, and finally a massive right double cork 1260 mute that would earn him a score of 90.75. While Wise wasn't able to throw everything he wanted to in the Olympic final, adding a silver medal to gold medal collection was a feat in itself after crashing out in the last two runs.
"I'm proud to have gotten the run down that I did," said Wise. "I didn't get to crack into the bag of tricks as far as I wanted to today, but sometimes strategy plays. I really wanted to land those other two runs, I had an equipment failure on run two, switched to a different pair of skis on run three, and then something went wrong so that's just how the cookie crumbles for me today. "
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.
"Less than ideal conditions but extremely happy, extremely grateful to get the job done, and be on the podium in my second Olympics," said Ferreira. "Two medals, I mean I consider that a W if you ask me."
Birk Irving had a solid day in his Olympic halfpipe final debut, finishing fifth overall with a flat score of 80. Aaron Blunck ended the day in seventh with a score of 78.25.
The men's freeski halfpipe wraps the freeski portion of competition at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
RESULTS
Men's halfpipe final
