Alex Pullin has made an impressive start to his 2007/08 World Cup snowboard cross campaign, finishing in 13th place in the opening event of the season in Valle Nevado, Chile.

It was a career-high placing for the 20-year-old Mt Buller rider, whose best result in his four previous World Cup outings had been 18th in Furano in February this year.

Pullin qualified for the 32-man finals rounds in 17th place in a time of  57.46 seconds, 1.85 seconds behind fastest qualifier Drew Neilson of Canada, the reigning World Cup champion.

In a very tough first round of the finals, Pullin faced not only Neilson, but also world number 2 Nate Holland of the USA.

But as  Head Coach of the OWI  snowboard program Ben Wordsworth reports, the Australian was not fazed by his opposition.

"Alex came out firing in his first heat which was not easy, having two of the world’s best SBX riders, Drew Neilson and Nate Holland, in his heat," Wordsworth said.

"He pushed through and stayed on Drew’s tail the whole way, finishing in second place and moving through to the quarter finals."

The quarter final was also formidable, with Neilson in the line up as well as dual World Champion and three-time World Cup champion Xavier Delerue of France.

"To Alex’s credit he led the top riders into the first corner with a respectable margin and looked like he would take out the heat," Wordsworth said.

"But a small mistake coming into the second corner allowed the two top riders to take a hard line up the inside, overtake Alex and shoot off to take first and second place."

"This experience for Alex, racing against these top riders and learning from them, will really help him develop into a top SBX rider as the 2007-2008 season goes on."

The gold medal went to Stian Sivertzen of Norway from Robert Fagan of Canada, with Neilson taking bronze.

The women's gold went to US rider Lindsey Jacobellis from Canadian Maelle Ricker, with Doresia Krings of Austria in the bronze medal spot.

A second round of World Cup will be held on Saturday (September 29).