Alex Pullin has produced the best result of his career and his second top ten of the season, finishing in seventh place in the snowboard cross World Cup in Bad Gastein, Austria. Pullin qualified well down in 25th place, but fought his way through to the semi-finals with two victories in the head-to-head final rounds.
Alex Pullin has produced the best result of his career and his second top ten of the season, finishing in seventh place in the snowboard cross World Cup in Bad Gastein, Austria.
Pullin qualified well down in 25th place, but fought his way through to the semi-finals with two victories in the head-to-head final rounds.
The AIS Scholarship athlete won his round of 32, then came out on top of a quarter-final group which included world number one Stian Sivertzen.
He finished third in his semi-final round, then third again in the small final for his final result of seventh.
“Today’s event in Bad Gastein saw some of the best SBX racing to date,” said OWI Snowboard Head Coach Ben Wordsworth.
“The course had a fresh dusting of snow overnight mixed in with some fog which made for very challenging conditions.”
“Alex came out very strong in both of his opening heats, making good starts and taking a solid line through the top half of the course. Unfortunately, as SBX goes, you can be a little unlucky and get forced off-line, which is what happened in the semi-finals, putting Alex back into third position and out of the gold medal final.”
“The small final was like a final in quality, with Drew Neilson, Pierre Vaultier, Tom Velisek and Chumpy (Pullin). This was one of the best races of the day with Chumpy leading into the first turn with Drew. He was definitely giving these top athletes a run for their money.”
“He is really starting to push the level of his riding and becoming a serious contender for World Cup podium finishes.”
AIS/OWI team-mate Damon Hayler finished in 35th place, missing a place in the 32-man finals rounds.
The event was won by Austrian rider Mario Fuchs, from Shaun Palmer of the USA and Mateusz Ligocki of Poland.
In the women’s event, won by US rider Lindsey Jacobellis, Ski and Snowboard Australia rider Stephanie Hickey finished in 29th place.
With 13th and eighth placings in the opening events of the season in Chile in September, Pullin is now in ninth place on the World Cup standings on 880 points.
Norway’s Sivertzen leads the standings on 2300 points from Pierre Vaultier of France on 1950 and Neilsen of Canada on 1500.
The AIS/OWI team now heads to Colorado for training in the lead-up to the Winter X Games.
The next World Cup snowboard cross event is in the Swiss resort of Leysin on February 1.
