Winter Olympics: Wells brothers storm into medal contention in ski half pipe

Byron Wells was the top qualifying Kiwi in the freeski men's halfpipe at the Winter Olympics. Photo / Getty Images.

Byron and Beau-James Wells made their presence felt in the qualification rounds of the men's free ski halfpipe in PyeongChang on Tuesday, qualifying for the final among the top five.

The pair will be joined in the final by fellow Kiwi Nico Porteous, whose second run earned him 11th place in qualifying - with the top 12 moving on to contest the medals.

Beau-James, who was New Zealand's flag bearer for the Winter Olympics, laid the platform for the day with an opening run score of 86.2 which had him sitting high up the rankings early.

He was soon bested by Byron, who posted an 88.6 in his opening run to sit in third place after the opening round.

With the score likely to see him qualify, there wasn't a lot of pressure on Byron's second run, so his run score of 42 wasn't costly.

While Beau-James would have moved on to the finals on his opening run's score, he wasn't leaving anything up to chance and went into his second run swinging. The 22-year-old bettered his opening run and jumped one place up the ladder to qualify in fifth place with a score of 88.2

For Porteus and brother Miguel, their opening run scores of 51.2 and 40.4 respectively left a lot to be desired. However, with the competitors keeping the best score from their two attempts, they had another chance to clinch a spot in the finals.

Both Nico and Miguel, needed to improve in their second run - and they did.

Nico, 16, laid down a strong second run to claim a 72.8 which was good enough for 11th place. Miguel improved with a 62.6, but it wasn't enough to lift him into the top 12, and he finished 17th.

The final was set to be held on Thursday.

The trio won't be the only Kiwis competing for a medal on Thursday, as 16-year-old Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will look to challenge for a podium finish in the women's big air snowboarding competition.

Sadowski-Synnott stood in fifth place after the two qualification runs for the event, being rewarded for an impressive second run with a score of 92.