At least the US have the Phoenix Snow Park halfpipe.
Freestyle skier David Wise yesterday successfully defended his gold medal, breaking through on his final run to give the US their third gold medal in the halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Wise wiped out on his first two runs before sneaking past countryman Alex Ferreira on his third with a score of 97.20.
Wise landed double corks in all four directions — front left, front right, switch (backward) left and switch right — a goal he set for himself entering the Games.
It was the seventh gold medal for the US in Pyeongchang, five of which at Phoenix Snow Park.
Chloe Kim and Shaun White last week won snowboard halfpipe gold, while Red Gerard and Jamie Anderson won at snowboard slopestyle.
The US snowboard and freestyle skiing crews have accounted for 10 of the country’s 19 medals in Pyeongchang.
Ferreira took silver with 96.40 points and 16-year-old Nico Porteous from New Zealand got bronze.
Porteous got New Zealand’s second medal of the day after snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synnott won bronze in big air to end New Zealand’s 26-year Winter Games drought.
Porteous momentarily pushed past Ferreira for the top spot with his second run, shocking even himself with a score of 94.80. He dropped his jaw and put his hands on his head when he first saw the result.
He did not even bother trying to top it in his third run, cruising through the halfpipe without a trick and waiting at the bottom for the other competitors.
The US had eyed a podium sweep in the halfpipe, with Torin Yater-Wallace and Aaron Blunck also among the favorites.
Yater-Wallace failed to complete a clean run and Blunck’s best effort was an 84.80 on his final run.
The US last swept a podium at the Sochi Games, when Joss Christensen, Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goeppel won the men’s skiing slopestyle.
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