Reno's David Wise wins opening freeskiing event in Colorado

COPPER MOUNTAIN, CO: Olympic Gold Medalist David Wise, who is a Lake Tahoe skier and Reno resident, is bringing home top honors after a heated early season battle that went down today at the first stop of the Sprint U.S Grand Prix tour and opening FIS Freestyle World Cup event of the season in Copper Mountain, CO. The brand new three run, best run counts format gave today’s finalist a lot of opportunity for progression, but David Wise’s consistent skiing and back-to-back double cork prowess set the stage early in the game. Wise won the contest with his first run of the day in which he linked both right and left double cork 1260s.

"Today was amazing," said Wise. "I was feeling really good right from the start. Practice was great. My first run was my best run because I think I was still in the zone from practice. I’m stoked I was able to put my first run down and ride that wav."

Second and third place finishers Torin Yater-Wallace and Benoit Valentin favored the three run format, mixing up their tricks and upping their scores as the day progressed. Alex Ferierra and current AFP World Champion Kevin Rolland finished just off the podium in fourth and fifth respectively. U.S. Freeskiing teammates Gus Kenworthy and Aaron Blunk rounded out the top seven.

Progression was the name of the game on the women’s side as well, with Kiwi skier Janina Kuzma landing her first 900 in competition and simultaneously landing herself on the top of the podium. Olympic slopestyle silver medalist Devin Logan nabbed second place with her stellar first run combo of a left 720 mute to switch alley-oop 540. Olympic halfpipe silver medalist from Japan Ayana Onozuka walked away with third place just edging out American Annalisa Drew.

Story written by United States Skiing Association.