Even though a rib injury kept him from competing in The Oakley Arctic Challenge this past weekend, results from the 6Star TTR event have been tabulated and it has just been confirmed that no one will be able to overtake Peetu Piiroinen in TTR World Tour points this winter. This will be Piiroinen's third TTR World Champion title.

The TTR World Tour rankings are determined by averaging the top seven TTR contest results in a season. The system is designed to award riders who compete in multiple disciplines throughout the year. Though a handful of high-level snowboarders like Iouri Podladtchikov, Christian Haller and Seppe Smits compete in halfpipe, slopestyle and big air, only Piiroinen consistently podiums in all three. The quiet destroyer from Finland claimed first in halfpipe and second in slopestyle at the Burton European Open in January, and placed first and second in the last two Air & Style big air contests in Munich and Innsbruck, respectively. All of his wins have been 6Star wins -- the highest level of competition on the TTR tour.

There is one final TTR 6Star event this season -- the US Open of Snowboarding, in March -- the results of which will determine the final standings in the rest of the men and women's tour rankings list. Currently Belgium's Seppe Smits is sitting in second place, with Sebastien Toutant -- who couldn't compete in The Arctic Challenge due to a rib injury sustained at the Air & Style Munich -- and Mark McMorris right behind in third and fourth.

Alex Pullin celebrates after winning the snowboard cross world title in Spain. Photo: AP

ALEX Pullin joined the swelling ranks of Australia's winter champions when he won the snowboard cross event to become his country's first world champion in the sport at La Molina.

Hard on the heels of Australia's best Winter Games performance of two gold and a silver in Vancouver, Victorian Pullin claimed just his second international victory when it mattered most, beating home two-time Olympic champion Seth Wescott and Nate Holland, both from the US.

After qualifying fourth, Pullin breezed through the first two rounds of head-to-head racing but almost blew his medal chances in the semi-final. A sloppy start put him behind the eight-ball and he also came close to clipping the side netting several times. But the 23-year-old maintained his composure to finish second behind Wescott and qualify for the final. ''I was watching [Roger] Federer the other night on TV - and even an absolute master of the sport can make strange and critical errors,'' said Pullin, driven by a disappointing Vancouver Olympics where he qualified first but was knocked out in the first main round. ''In the end, I was able to stay cool and manage it. The more experienced you are, the more you are able to deal with the variables that crop up in this sport.''

The decider presented no such dramas - Pullin taking the lead before holding off the fast-finishing Wescott and Holland. ''It was one of those days where I was right in the zone and everything just fell into place,'' he said.

Australia's investment in the relatively new winter sports such as snowboard cross and halfpipe, aerial skiing, moguls and ski cross has paid major dividends in recent years with the likes of Dale Begg-Smith, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila, Torah Bright and now Pullin claiming major international trophies.

Other athletes in those disciplines, including Holly Crawford and Nate Holland, who'll compete this week in the halfpipe, and Jenny Owens and Scott Kneller (ski cross), have also picked up medals at World Cup level over the past three years.

The Olympic Winter Institute recently cut the expensive and ultra-competitive alpine skiing programs to free up money for the newer sports, which can be more easily trained for and developed in Australian conditions and tend to have less depth internationally. The snowboarding success had its genesis in a program developed by the OWI in 2002, where athletes were handpicked to train in California and receive proper coaching for the first time.

Pullin will target the overall World Cup title for the 2010-11 season. He is currently second.

Austria's Benjamin Karl celebrates after winning Friday's men's parallel giant slalom at the FIS world snowboarding championships in Limone Piemonte, Italy.

Photograph by: Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters, Postmedia News

Austrians and Russians dominated the opening races to the snowboard World Cup season by sweeping the podiums in parallel slalom.

The Austrians took all three medals in the men's event, while the Russians swept the women's event.

Matt Morison of Burketon, Ont., was the lone Canadian to compete on the men's side, but he fell to Swiss rider Roland Haldi on his opening duel to finish the day in 10th spot.

Olympic silver medallist Benjamin Karl took top spot, edging fellow Austrian Andreas Prommegger in the gold-medal showdown. Manuel Vieth was third to round out the Austrian domination.