It's not so long ago that Alex Pullin felt like a member of the Jamaican bobsled team when he turned up to represent Australia at bordercross events.

Now he looks across at his competitors with a cheeky smile and uses his larrikin Aussie profile to his advantage.

"It's just a bit of cheek, but it's nice to look at them all before a race and say `you're going to be flogged by an Aussie mate!'," Pullin told AAP.

"I hit the tour in 2007, I was 19 then and definitely at times you'd feel a little bit like the Jamaican bobsled team rocking up.

"But these days, especially since the last Olympics, and the last year at the snowboard world championships and freestyle world championships, we've just had so many medals and strong performances, so now we're seen as a major threat ... which is a really good feeling."

Much of that success comes down solely to Pullin - who is coming off a career-best year in which he won the world championship crown, the world cup title and finished the year ranked No.1.

"Last year for me was the perfect year," he said.

"(There is some pressure this year) because the year before last season I was world No.2, I still had room to move up but if I had have ended up No.2 I could've still said I was on par with the previous season.

"Whereas this year there's really only one position on the end of season rankings which I'm looking for."

The 24-year-old is back in Sydney undergoing his "most intense ever preparation" in an effort to improve on last year's results.

But how do you improve on perfection?

According to Pullin, it's easy when you have the lure of Olympic gold - the one title which has eluded him so far and something he plans on rectifying at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

"It's definitely the pinnacle of the four-year cycle," Pullin said.

"Mainly because in our sport it's one of the main events that really gets home.

"For us, a lot of our time spent away from home, a lot of great results don't necessarily slip underneath the radar, but maybe don't get the opportunity to share it as much with the public.

"And the Olympics gives that opportunity ... (winning Olympic gold) is definitely on the bucket list, that's what I'm aiming for."

And he's certainly not leaving anything to chance.

In season, when Pullin's not competing, he's training.

During the warmer northern hemisphere months, he comes back to Australia and takes advantage of the southern winter by hitting the snow and testing new techniques.

Then when the Australian snow dries up, he heads to Sydney's northern beaches and hits the gym with his coaching team.

Oh, and in his spare time he analyses MotoGP races to see if there is anything he can take from their drafting manoeuvres that can be adapted to help him in bordercross.

"All those lines which MotoGP riders take from out wide, cutting down the apex and taking the straightest possible line to the bottom of the course to maximise the speed that you can hold really relates to our sport," he explains.

"I see the similarities in the way they ride and the tactics of drafting they use ... I get a lot out of it."

Joe Barton
AAP