Alex Pullin has joined Australia’s ever-expanding list of winter sports medallists, winning bronze in a snowboard cross World Cup in Gujo-Gifu, Japan. Pullin qualified in fifth position, then battled his way through three rounds of four-man head-to-head racing to make his first final, lifting his ranking to number six in the world in the process.
Alex Pullin has joined Australia’s ever-expanding list of winter sports medallists, winning bronze in a snowboard cross World Cup in Gujo-Gifu, Japan.
Pullin qualified in fifth position, then battled his way through three rounds of four-man head-to-head racing to make his first final.
The 20-year-old AIS/OWI rider’s previous best result was a seventh in Bad Gastein, Austria, in January, in a career that has spanned just ten events.
Olympic Winter Institute team-mate Damon Hayler, who qualified in seventh position, was eliminated in the quarter-final round, finishing in tenth place overall.
US rider Graham Watanabe won the event from Norway’s Stian Sivertzen, but Sivertzen maintained his place at the top of the World Cup standings on 3600 points, 330 clear of French boarder Pierre Vaultier.
Pullin, a Mt Buller rider, has now moved into sixth place on the World Cup standings on 1632 points, the highest ranking of his career, and also declared his candidacy for the podium at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
Hayler has moved up to 21st position on the standings on 860 points.
“I came to Japan for my first World Cup last year and qualified fifth but went out first round because I didn’t really have a clue what I was going on back then,” Pullin said.
“I needed a lot more experience. Today I had another qualifying in fifth position which was pretty déjà vu but I knew what to do with it this time and took it all the way to the final and made the podium.”
“I still feel super young on this tour as far as World Cup miles go.”
“It was a short season last year because of the lack of snow in Europe – we only had four events including the finals - but I feel that that gave me enough to go home with and think about.”
“I’ve qualified every event so far this year in every World Cup, and that was the first goal for the season and now I’m aiming to qualify top five every World Cup and podium, so my goals are rising pretty quickly.”
“I felt I really earned this placing today, it wasn’t just luck and it wasn’t just a breeze through. I earned every spot that I made in every heat and I felt super-satisfied at the bottom and to me that’s the best result possible because it makes me feel like I’m a very solid boarder cross rider.”
Pullin and Hayler will now travel to Lake Placid, New York state, for the next event on the snowboard cross schedule.
