New Zealand’s Jossi Wells won the silver medal in the men’s ski slopestyle at the Winter X-Games in France today.

Wells, who sneaked into this category as an alternate, stunned the field by being the top qualifier yesterday.

And he nearly pulled off a gold medal effort in today’s final.

American McRae Williams led over the first two runs but a fall on his third run left him sweating over his 94.33 score.

Wells went hard at it in his final run but came up just short, recording 93.00. Another American, Gus Kenworthy, took bronze with 92.00.

"It was definitely nerve-racking," Wells said of his last run. "But just being able to land my runs again and feel good on my skis, that's enough to make me stoked."

Williams and Wells are good friends, something Williams acknowledged in his victory speech.

“It's a love-hate relationship. We all want each other to do good, but at the same time you're kind of hoping to keep that top spot. Those could have been the longest five minutes of my life, for sure,” Williams said.

This is Wells’ fourth X Games medal. He won silver in the 2008 slopestyle in Aspen, silver in the 2010 superpipe at Aspen and bronze in the 2012 big air at Aspen.

Wells also competed in the superpipe today but failed to fire, finishing last of the 16 competitors in the elimination round meaning he won't contest the final.

His younger brother Byron had better luck though, finishing in eighth place to take the last spot in tomorrow's final.

- © Fairfax NZ News