Alex Pullin has made an impressive start to his 2007/08 World Cup snowboard cross campaign, reeling off successive personal best results and posting his first top ten placing.

Pullin rode to 13th place in the opening event of the season in Valle Nevado, Chile, 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.

Two days later he cracked the top ten, finishing in eighth place in the second event on the Chilean course.

Pullin now sits in 11th place on the World Cup snowboard cross rankings, in just his second year on the circuit.

And while the results were impressive, so too was the manner in which they were achieved, with the Mansfield-based rider going head to head with several of the best competitors in the world.

On the opening day, in a very tough first round of the finals, Pullin faced reigning World Cup champion Drew Neilson of Canada and also world number 2 Nate Holland of the USA.

But as Ben Wordsworth, Head Coach, OWI snowboard program, 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."

The gold medal in the opening World Cup round 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.

In the second event, Pullin qualified in 22nd place, then rode strongly through the opening round of the final, placing second behind dual world champion Xavier Delerue in the round of 32, then second again behind the  Frenchman in the round of 16.

"Alex was a serious contender all day, going through the first final rounds with some very fast starting and one of the smoothest lines through the top section of the course," said Ben Wordsworth, Head Coach OWI Snowboard Program.

"A missed start in the semi-finals put him into third position and he had to chase the pack down the course, missing a place in the final."

"In the small final he put on a showing but ended in fourth position for the overall placing of eighth."

"To finish top eight against the world's best is a huge experience for Alex and something he can take a lot of knowledge from."

The second day's men's gold medal went to Pierre Vaultier of France from Stian Sivertzen of Norway, with Delerue collecting the bronze.

Sivertzen leads the World Cup standings on 1800 points from Vaultier, on 1500. Pullin has 350 points after the season's opening two rounds.

The women's gold was won by Maelle Ricker of Canada from Mellie Francon of Switzerland and another Canadian, Dominique Maltais.

The OWI team will now have 10 days off at home in Australia to recover in preparation  for a scheduled training and testing camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in mid-October.