Brockoff and Pullin in the medals at Snowboard Cross World Cup

NSWIS stars Belle Brockhoff and Alex (Chumpy) Pullin have begun the Snowboard Cross World Cup season in fine style winning gold and bronze respectively at the opening event in Montafon, Austria.

The Montafon event could not have gone any better for the Brockhoff who had a near perfect qualifying run on Thursday, finishing second behind Olympic champion Eva Samkova, before winning the quarterfinal, finishing second in her semi to book a spot in the final.

Trailing by a small margin to Sochi Winter Olympic bronze medallist Chloe Trespeuch coming through the second time-gate, Brockhoff had to work hard to take back the lead and claim victory.

Brockoff was over the moon with her perfect start to the new season.

“Couldn’t ask for anything better to start the tour off. Thank you for the support, happy days,” Brockhoff said after winning gold.

A full-strength field was another tough challenge for the men, but as big names dropped out in the quarterfinals, Pullin and fellow NSWIS boarder Jarryd Hughes made the most of it to push deep into the finals, with Pullin snaring a podium spot in 3rd.

Hughes got the jump on Pullin in the qualifying round, coming in second with Chumpy sitting in 11th.

Both Pullin and Hughes won their quarterfinals before moving through to the same semi, where Hughes pipped Pullin, both progressing to the final.

The tables were turned in the final when Hughes unfortunately did not finish to place fourth overall as Pullin raced through in third to join Brockhoff with a podium finish.

Pullin copped a knock to the mouth in the final, but was thrilled with his result and congratulated USA winner Hagen Kearney on his first World Cup win.

“Sick day of racing, stoked to land on the podium at the first stop of the tour after some really tight heats,” Pullin said.

After the races, Olympic Winter Institute of Australia head coach abd BSWIS Coach of the Year, Ben Wordsworth, credited Brockhoff and Pullin’s hard work in training and said they were delighted to get a great early result.

“Belle has put a lot of work in through the Australian winter which paid off today. She made a great pass in the final and took a great win,” he said.

“Chumpy also rode extremely well today, putting a lot of work into his equipment and technique over the break. He rode some tight heats and made some great racing moves to get that podium.”

The only other NSWIS rider to qualify for finals, Cam Bolton, progressed through his eight final but couldn’t move out of the quarters, finishing 15th overall.

NSWIS teammates Matt Thomas, Josh Miller and Adam Dickson were placed 33rd,38th and 56th after the qualifying competition.

Photo: Harald Benselin / Ski and Snowboard Australia