Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin’s Winter Olympic dream over after failing to reach snowboard cross final

MAYBE it was the pressure, maybe it was the conditions and maybe it was just the nature of this wild event called boardercross.

Australia's Alex Pullin reacts after missing out on the snowboard cross final.

MAYBE it was the pressure, maybe it was the snow conditions and maybe it was just the nature of this helter-skelter greyhound race on snow called boardercross.

Whatever the case, Australia’s flagbearer and best gold medal hope at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Alex “Chumpy” Pullin, fell short of his own lofty expectations, eliminated at the quarter-final stage and finishing in unlucky equal 13th.

Watch all the drama from the snowboard cross in the video above

The boardercross blowout means Australia is likely to leave Sochi without a gold medal for the first time since the Nagano Olympics 16 years ago, and will be hard-pressed to reach chef de mission Ian Chesterman’s stated goal of “four or five medals” and a top 15 medal tally finish.

News_Image_File: Australia's Alex Pullin reacts after missing out on the snowboard cross final.

“I felt like I’ve done everything I could,” Pullin said after his shock early exit.

“I’ve stayed really positive through yesterday (when the event was postponed due to fog), I felt good today, ready for another battle.

“We knew it was going to be more like a fight than a perfect race of clean turns.”

Conditions were slow and foggy at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park high in the mountains above Sochi, with wet snow falling at the top of the course and rain at the bottom.

That had the effect of drawing the field closer together, reducing Pullin’s natural speed advantage that had been so apparent all week as he trained on the course on much firmer snow.

News_Image_File: Alex Pullin leads the pack in his 1/8 final at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

But just as they had in Vancouver four years earlier, the weather gods turned the course to snowy porridge, meaning boards dug in where previously they had ridden smoothly across the surface of the course.

That, in a nutshell, is where Pullin came unstuck.

His first run in the earlier round was perfection. Pullin was third of five riders out of the gates but sailed through the course and led easily through to the finish line. It looked a preview of what was to come.

“The first run went really well, I felt like I was in a good groove with the speed,” he said. “Got back to the top ready to fire off something similar, that’s what I was hoping to do.”

If hopes were medals, every athlete at these Olympics would have gold around their neck. But the Olympics don’t work that way and, in the quarter-finals, Pullin’s hopes turned into his worst fears on the third turn of the kilometre-long course.

“I was just aiming to get in front and do an inside passing move into turn three,” he said.

“That had been working for me really well, it’s a line that I’d been running the whole time.

“As I went in there, the snow just cracked, it just gave way and I lost a lot of speed in that turn. Yeah that’s where I dropped back to pretty much last, I think.”

News_Image_File: Friends and supporters of Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin at Narrabeen RSL.

It’s a measure of the 26-year-old’s skill and speed that he eventually finished a close-up fourth. But in an event where just three riders progress in each round, it wasn’t good enough.

Chumpy Pullin’s Olympics were over.

Inevitably, the focus turned to the lead-up. Was his unorthodox surfside preparation the right one? Was the burden of being named flagbearer too much to bear?

And had the controversy over inequitable funding raised by the disgruntled father of snowboarder Belle Brockhoff gotten inside his head?

Pullin brushed all that aside in his typically polished way.

“I’m 100 per cent with my preparation. I feel I did absolutely everything I could but when it comes down to it the day of racing, it’s tough, that’s how it goes.

“I’ve been focused on waking up in the morning, getting a good vibe, going every day. You can wake up tired you gotta turn it on, I feel like the Aussies put on a really good show in this sport.”

News_Image_File: Alex Deibold of the United States (blue bib) and Alex Pullin of Australia (red bib) embrace after the Men's Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals.

Pullin’s teammates Cam Bolton and Jarryd Hughes finished 11th and 17th respectively in the event, with Bolton progressing as far as the semi-finals before finishing fifth after falling.

The dreadlocked Bolton was left with a bloody nose and a badly injured wrist, which may be broken.

“You’re a superstar,’’ his father Peter Bolton said to his son. “You have to say it’s a good day, Cam has shown himself to be a world-class athlete with a fair bit of guts.’’

Sydney school boy Jarryd Hughes hurt his hip and lower back when he was taken out from behind in the quarter-finals.

“I’m so sore I just want to go to the hotel and cry,’’ he told his parents.

Pullin’s injuries were more of the emotional nature. His gutted parents said their son would be “pragmatic” about the disappointing result.

“In racing the highs are very high and the lows can be pretty low, but he’ll get over it,’’ his father Chris Pullin said.

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“I’ve been proud of him since he was one-year-old and I’m still proud of him – he’s a great guy and we love him.’’

Pullin’s girlfriend Ellidy Vlug could only say, “It’s all a little bit sad.”

That it was.

“I definitely feel a little bit disappointed,” Pullin said. “I had the expectation of feeling in really good form, but at the same time there’s 39 of us up there that are all in absolutely top form.”

The race was won by Frenchman Pierre Vaultier, with Russian Nikolay Olyunin second and American Alex Deibold taking bronze.

Re-live the action live in blog below.

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