Wise wins gold for U.S.; Gisin tops Shiffrin

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA » David Wise delivered another gold for the U.S., winning the men’s halfpipe in freestyle skiing.

It was the second straight Olympic gold for Wise, who put down the most difficult, technically precise run ever seen in the sport of halfpipe skiing. He edged out his Olympic roommate, Alex Ferreira.

“I’m honestly just in disbelief right now,” Wise said. “Winning, losing, whatever, just the fact that I landed that run in the moment when it needed to happen, on that that third run, just felt so good.”

Mikaela Shiffrin couldn’t make it a third on the day for the U.S. , taking the silver as Michelle Gisin of Switzerland won the women’s Alpine combined.

In the men’s slalom, Andre Myhrer, a 35-year-old Swede, was the unlikely champion after Marcel Hirscher and Henrik Kristoffersen — the best slalom skiers on the World Cup circuit — couldn’t complete two runs.

In other events Feb. 22, Anna Gasser of Austria won the women’s Big Air snowboarding event, and Germany took the Nordic combined team title.

In short-track speedskating, Dajing Wu of China won the men’s 500 meters, Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands took the women’s 1,000, and Hungary was the winner of the men’s 5,000-meter relay.

Belarus won the gold in the women’s 4x6-kilometer biathlon relay, finishing in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 3.4 seconds.

Taking a chance

With a third of the 12 riders limping off the course with injuries, Wise faced an all-or-nothing run after his ski bindings failed him in his two previous trips down.

“We cranked my bindings up as high as they would go,” Wise said. “We’re like, ‘You know what, my leg’s coming off before the ski does.”’

Everything stayed on, and he skied to victory.

Gisin’s gold

Gisin finished the Alpine combined in 2 minutes, 20.90 seconds to eclipse silver-medalist Shiffrin by 0.97 seconds. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland was 1.44 seconds back to earn the bronze.

“I tried to put my heart into that run,” Gisin said. “It’s insane.”

Lindsey Vonn made a mistake early in the slalom and didn’t finish in what was likely the final race of her Winter Games career.