Ex-Olympic snowboarder Steph Prem grieves the loss of Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin after he dies

Former Olympic snowboarder Steph Prem has spoken fondly about her ‘fiercely talented’ childhood friend, Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, who tragically passed away.

World champion snowboarder Pullin, 32, was spearfishing on Palm Beach on the Gold Coast when he suffered a shallow water blackout at about 10.30am on Wednesday.

Gushing about the special memories they shared, Steph revealed on The Project that they ‘met at age 11, trained together for seven years before becoming Australia champions and debuting at the Olympics together.’ 

‘I miss his work ethic and charisma,’ Steph said before adding that ‘no matter who met him, they would fall in love with him’.

‘Everyone is talking about how fiercely talented [he was] on the snowboard, but he was also an incredible musician, and he was very, very renowned for that on tour as well.

‘So they are the things I will miss and the fond memories that will be remembered [about Alex] for a long time,’ she continued emotionally.

This comes after Weekend Today weather presenter Lauren spoke about her connection to Alex.

Lauren shared a heartfelt message about her late friend on Instagram, revealing he ‘lit up the room’.  

‘You really were something special,’ Lauren wrote, sharing pictures of herself with the athlete during a snowboarding holiday together in New Zealand. 

She continued: ‘Your energy was contagious. You lit up a room. You made everything more fun. The world was a better place with you in it.’   

Pullin tragically drowned during a spearfishing accident on the Gold Coast this morning, with his family on the beach. 

Gold Coast Police senior sergeant Chris Tritton said another spear fisherman saw Pullin unresponsive on the ocean floor and got the attention of a surfer.

The surfer paddled to shore to alert lifeguards, who then came out on a jet-ski and hauled Pullin to the beach with the help of surfers.

Lifeguards gave him CPR until Queensland Ambulance paramedics arrived and took over for about 45 minutes, but were unable to save him. 

‘He didn’t have an oxygen mask, we understand he was freediving and spearfishing out on the reef,’ Sergeant Tritton said.

‘It appears he was diving alone. There were other divers out there but he was not with a friend.’

Pullin was an experienced free diver and was fishing by himself when he drowned, having posted a photo of himself spearfishing just two weeks ago.

‘Unreal day in the ocean, whales singing and breaching around us,’ he wrote on Instagram at the time.

‘Hanging with great people plus bringing plenty of fish for the week.’ 

Pullin won gold medals at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships, and represented Australia at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Winter Olympics, where he was the flag bearer.