Australia's Alex "Chumpy" Pullin added a historic World Cup title to the World Championship crown he took in January, when he dominated qualifying and every race in the winner-take-all end-of-season snowboard cross finals in Arosa, Switzerland last night (Australian time).
Pullin went into the finals needing to out-score Frenchman and one of his closest friends on the tour, Pierre Vaultier, by 604 points to secure the World Cup's ultimate prize, the Crystal Globe trophy.
The new world number one ranked snowboard cross rider did so in a convincing and dramatic way.
By delivering a flawless performance against a star-studded 32-man field that included a dual Winter Olympic Games gold medalist, the defending World Cup title holder and a former World Champion, Pullin snatched the end-of-season points win from Vaultier by just 60 points.
Pullin was first across the line in all of his four races last night finishing the day ahead of Italian Luca Matteotti and American Nick Gaumgartner in second and third.
Pullin's win in Arosa secured the 1000 points required for his first series win.
The 23-year-old Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from Mt Buller in Victoria is the first Australian snowboard cross rider to capture a World Championship and the World Cup title in the one year.
Pullin was given the encouragement and determination to deliver something special last night when he finished fourth in the first day of a double header 24 hours earlier.
Although a fourth place in World Cup competition is a commendable achievement, Pullin said he was disappointed by his performance and used the result as motivation for the last event of the year.
Pullin, who needed to defeat Vaultier in the semi-finals and a win in the final to create a serious chance at the year-end title, said the World Cup series has capped off a remarkable season.
"I really can't comprehend it right now," a euphoric Pullin said shortly after the podium ceremony.
"This year has provided everything I set out to do.
"Today was like everything was in slow motion and I had everything under control. It felt awesome.
"Each of the races were really tight battles and everybody was here.
"It was the equivalent of winning an Olympic gold medal today. The battles were really worthy of that.
"I raced all the guys that I really looked up to and beat them once again and it is a fantastic feeling."
Yet despite the hype and the world's highest quality field eager to prevent the Australian from winning, Pullin handled the pressure with ease, never giving any indication that coming second was an option, which is a fundamental and essential characteristic of a true champion in any sport.
"The best thing about today was that it was so enjoyable and I really had a lot of fun," Pullin declared.
Another sign that Pullin totally deserves his place at the sport's pinnacle is that he was far from satisfied with his fourth place on day one.
"I was disappointed with yesterday but the thing is that the racing I did yesterday was like a completely different event.
"Yesterday I was missing a few things that I would normally have done but boarder cross is a sport that is hard to be on it every single event.
"But I knew it was a double event and had the perfect opportunity for redemption the very next day.
"I wanted to hit the podium on the first day so the fourth gave me some fire.
"I put the fourth out of my head straight away and focused on finishing the season with a win, which is what I really wanted to do.
"Winning the World Championships was great but it was a long time ago and we have had a lot of events since. It's really cool to come along and win another one."
Ironically, it was a chat to one of Pullin's main rivals before last night's race that helped the Australian to victory.
"I had a really nice chat to Markus Schairer, who was the World Champion two years ago and the world number one and he said you can't really think about the points," Pullin said.
"He said 'you've got to go and race everything as it comes'."
Interestingly, Arosa was the venue where Pullin's World Cup career started in 2007.
Pullin went into the finals needing to out-score Frenchman and one of his closest friends on the tour, Pierre Vaultier, by 604 points to secure the World Cup's ultimate prize, the Crystal Globe trophy.
The new world number one ranked snowboard cross rider did so in a convincing and dramatic way.
By delivering a flawless performance against a star-studded 32-man field that included a dual Winter Olympic Games gold medalist, the defending World Cup title holder and a former World Champion, Pullin snatched the end-of-season points win from Vaultier by just 60 points.
Pullin was first across the line in all of his four races last night finishing the day ahead of Italian Luca Matteotti and American Nick Gaumgartner in second and third.
Pullin's win in Arosa secured the 1000 points required for his first series win.
The 23-year-old Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from Mt Buller in Victoria is the first Australian snowboard cross rider to capture a World Championship and the World Cup title in the one year.
Pullin was given the encouragement and determination to deliver something special last night when he finished fourth in the first day of a double header 24 hours earlier.
Although a fourth place in World Cup competition is a commendable achievement, Pullin said he was disappointed by his performance and used the result as motivation for the last event of the year.
Pullin, who needed to defeat Vaultier in the semi-finals and a win in the final to create a serious chance at the year-end title, said the World Cup series has capped off a remarkable season.
"I really can't comprehend it right now," a euphoric Pullin said shortly after the podium ceremony.
"This year has provided everything I set out to do.
"Today was like everything was in slow motion and I had everything under control. It felt awesome.
"Each of the races were really tight battles and everybody was here.
"It was the equivalent of winning an Olympic gold medal today. The battles were really worthy of that.
"I raced all the guys that I really looked up to and beat them once again and it is a fantastic feeling."
Yet despite the hype and the world's highest quality field eager to prevent the Australian from winning, Pullin handled the pressure with ease, never giving any indication that coming second was an option, which is a fundamental and essential characteristic of a true champion in any sport.
"The best thing about today was that it was so enjoyable and I really had a lot of fun," Pullin declared.
Another sign that Pullin totally deserves his place at the sport's pinnacle is that he was far from satisfied with his fourth place on day one.
"I was disappointed with yesterday but the thing is that the racing I did yesterday was like a completely different event.
"Yesterday I was missing a few things that I would normally have done but boarder cross is a sport that is hard to be on it every single event.
"But I knew it was a double event and had the perfect opportunity for redemption the very next day.
"I wanted to hit the podium on the first day so the fourth gave me some fire.
"I put the fourth out of my head straight away and focused on finishing the season with a win, which is what I really wanted to do.
"Winning the World Championships was great but it was a long time ago and we have had a lot of events since. It's really cool to come along and win another one."
Ironically, it was a chat to one of Pullin's main rivals before last night's race that helped the Australian to victory.
"I had a really nice chat to Markus Schairer, who was the World Champion two years ago and the world number one and he said you can't really think about the points," Pullin said.
"He said 'you've got to go and race everything as it comes'."
Interestingly, Arosa was the venue where Pullin's World Cup career started in 2007.
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