Australia's Alex "Chumpy" Pullin has secured back-to-back podium finishes and grabbed the number two World Cup ranking after a nail-biting final in the Telluride snowboard cross final in the United States today.
Competing in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, the 23-year-old AIS scholarship holder from Mt Buller raced across the line in third position in a field boasting the elite snowboard racers in the world, including the defending event winner, a two time Olympic gold medalist and the current world champion.
A fast finishing Pullin was only a board length away from the winner, Frenchman Pierre Vaultier, who recorded his second Telluride World Cup victory in two years. American dual Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott was in second place in a blanket finish.
Swiss boarder Fabio Caduff crossed the line in fourth while current world champion Markus Schairer from Austria finished in fifth spot.
Pullin's podium finish is just nine days after the Australian notched his first World Cup points of the season with a second in Lech, Austria.
His brilliant result sets up his best ever start to a World Cup season and comes less than a month away from the World Championships in LaMolina, Spain.
The 600 points that go with the third place in Telluride put the likeable Australian into second place on the World Cup tally, just 140 points behind Vaultier, who leads the competition.
Qualifying in 12th place, Pullin cruised into the final with victories in both his quarter final and semi final events.
An ecstatic AIS head coach Ben Wordsworth said that Pullin may have snatched victory today had the race been just another 40 or 50 metres longer.
"They (Vaultier and Westcott) got away in the middle of the race but with clean lines Chumpy came back strongly towards the end," Wordsworth said.
Pullin's result is even more admirable given that he has struggled to overcome food poisoning all week and went into competition today well below full strength.
After competing in a team event in Telluride tomorrow, Pullin will go into the World Cup's Christmas-New Year break brimming with confidence knowing that his speed is at world best standard.
He will undergo an intensive training block in January before flying to Spain.
Competing in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, the 23-year-old AIS scholarship holder from Mt Buller raced across the line in third position in a field boasting the elite snowboard racers in the world, including the defending event winner, a two time Olympic gold medalist and the current world champion.
A fast finishing Pullin was only a board length away from the winner, Frenchman Pierre Vaultier, who recorded his second Telluride World Cup victory in two years. American dual Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott was in second place in a blanket finish.
Swiss boarder Fabio Caduff crossed the line in fourth while current world champion Markus Schairer from Austria finished in fifth spot.
Pullin's podium finish is just nine days after the Australian notched his first World Cup points of the season with a second in Lech, Austria.
His brilliant result sets up his best ever start to a World Cup season and comes less than a month away from the World Championships in LaMolina, Spain.
The 600 points that go with the third place in Telluride put the likeable Australian into second place on the World Cup tally, just 140 points behind Vaultier, who leads the competition.
Qualifying in 12th place, Pullin cruised into the final with victories in both his quarter final and semi final events.
An ecstatic AIS head coach Ben Wordsworth said that Pullin may have snatched victory today had the race been just another 40 or 50 metres longer.
"They (Vaultier and Westcott) got away in the middle of the race but with clean lines Chumpy came back strongly towards the end," Wordsworth said.
Pullin's result is even more admirable given that he has struggled to overcome food poisoning all week and went into competition today well below full strength.
After competing in a team event in Telluride tomorrow, Pullin will go into the World Cup's Christmas-New Year break brimming with confidence knowing that his speed is at world best standard.
He will undergo an intensive training block in January before flying to Spain.
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