David Wise (freestyle skier)


David Wise is an American freestyle skier. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a four-time X Games Gold Medalist. In 2014, Wise won his third consecutive gold medal at X Games XVIII in Aspen, Colorado, before heading to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics. There, he became the first Olympic gold medalist in the Men's Freeski Halfpipe, which debuted in the Winter Games that year. In 2018, after struggling both personally and professionally since his win in Sochi, Wise won his fourth gold medal at the X Games just before he left for PyeongChang to defend his Olympic title. After a sub-par qualifying competition that placed him in the fifth drop-in position for the finals, Wise failed to complete each of his first two runs due, in both cases, to a binding malfunction. On his third and final run, Wise completed a career-best run to take the gold medal, the second Olympic gold medal of his career, with a score of 97.20.

Personal life

Wise grew up in Reno, Nevada. He started skiing at the age of three, learning at Sky Tavern just outside of Reno. He grew up skiing with his two sisters, Christy and Jessica, and his father, Thomas. In 2011 that Wise joined his first freestyle ski team. In the early years, he also competed in moguls, aerials, big air and slopestyle under the direction of Clay Beck but eventually gravitated to the halfpipe, one of many "new school" events he watched on TV at the X Games.
In 2011, he married his girlfriend, Alexandra. The couple have two children: a daughter, Nayeli, and a son, Malachi.