When boardercross champion Alex “Chumpy” Pullin was carrying the flag as flag bearer for the Australian Winter Olympic Team at the Sochi Olympics, his home town of Mansfield was undergoing a 40 degree heatwave and under the threat of bushfires. Lucky for him, his parents ran a ski and snowboard shop and took him to the mountains every chance they got.
At age 15, Chumpy was at the FIS Snowboard Australian National Championships and has since travelled the world, with considerable success at boardercross. He won two back-to-back World Championships, two Crystal Globes as the overall winner of the World Cup tour in 2011 and 2013, and nine World Cup Podiums, and is going into Sochi currently Ranked #1 on the Olympic qualification list.