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.

David Wise is still competing at age 34, recently winning bronze, behind Nick Goepper and Alex Ferreira in the first ever podium sweep by 30 year olds at a halfpipe world cup event.

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.