PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- David Wise of the United States defended his gold medal in men's ski halfpipe at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games here on Thursday.

After two below-par runs, Wise finished his third run with a stunning 97.20 points for the gold.

"Today was just an amazing day of halfpipe skiing," said Wise. "I walked out of a ski twice. For both runs I walked out of a ski. Not really a mistake I made, but it was just unfortunate, so I had to put it all down on the third run, and I pulled it off."

Wise became the second athlete to win two gold medals in freestyle skiing, after Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau in men's moguls at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

"I'm honestly just in disbelief right now. 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," he added.

Wise's compatriot Alex Ferreira improved to 96.40 points to finish second.

"Seeing Alex land his runs, all three runs, and the quals that he did, just inspired me," commented Wise.

Nico Porteous of New Zealand bagged the bronze with 94.80 points.