RIP Alex Pullin—Two-Time World Champion Australian Snowboarder Dies off Gold Coast

RIP Alex Pullin—Two-Time World Champion Australian Snowboarder Dies off Gold Coast

Thirty two year old Australian snowboarder Alex Pullin passed away Wednesday after being found unresponsive off a beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast. According to reporting from the BBC, a snorkeler spotted Pullin unconscious underwater on an artificial reef where Pullin was believed to have been freediving and spearfishing.

Pullin, aka Chumpy, is a two-time boardercross world champion and a three-time olympic competitor. He was Australia’s flag bearer at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. Pullin won the overall snowboard cross title in both the 2010-2011 and 2012-2013 FIS Snowboard World Cups, and also took home snowboard cross gold at the 2011 and 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships. He is the first Australian to do so. In 2016 he won a silver medal in boardercross at the 2016 X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

Australian snowboarder Scotty James and American Hagen Kearney posted the following tributes to their Instagram pages:

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Chumpy, Man, I’m gutted this morning. The world lost a beautiful soul. Chumpy was one of the absolute best racers to ever live. I’ve looked up to his riding more than most because of the way he attacked a course, it made the most sense to me. I actually tried to mirror his riding when I first started racing World Cup. A true master at getting hole shots and making them fucking stick. I speak for everyone when I say that you knew you had to get your shit together if you ended up in a heat with Chumpy, ‘cause 9 times outta 10, you’re not going to beat him. Aside from the superior fierce competitor that he was on a snowboard, he was an all around great dude and a great friend with a big heart. You can tell a true friend when you can have your silly competitive fronts with one another and then let it dissolve over a beer and some good roasting at the end of race day. That was Chump. He was such a kick ass guitarist/musician too. I’m going to miss our random Hendrix jam sessions from wherever we were in the world. The one thing that I can take away from this, a thing that also kind of eats me, is go visit your friends, whenever you can. Chumpy literally told me for years to come down to Aus and go surfing with him and @cameronbolton. I kept saying I would go, every year, and I never did. He was just getting ready to retire this year, atleast that’s what he told me and a few others. We were meant to grab a beer at the end of the season and catch up on everything. One thing he left me with was, “All I want to do is have fun these days.” I’ll see you on the other side brother. Thank you for all of the gifts you gave. Go blast some Hendrix in his honor. Rest In Peace. ❤️

A post shared by Hagen Kearney (@hagenkearney) on Jul 8, 2020 at 11:52am PDT

Our thoughts go out to Pullin’s family and friends, and the larger community mourning his death.

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