At the 1968 U.S. Championships in Philadelphia, Wood defeated Gary Visconti and John Misha Petkevich to win the first of his three U.S. national titles. The trio were selected to represent the U.S. at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Still coached by Baker, Wood won the Olympic silver medal after placing second in the compulsory figures and third in the free skate. He stood on the podium with Austria's Wolfgang Schwarz (gold) and France's Patrick Péra (bronze). Wood attributed his success to becoming mature enough to conquer his competition nerves, and to training harder. While also a university student, he spent 7 and a half hours a day training, including at least four hours just on compulsory figures. Competing in Geneva, Switzerland at the 1968 World Championships, he finished second to the defending World champion Emmerich Danzer of Austria, who had been fourth at the Olympics.