Pullin resists quiet pre-Olympics campaign

AAP/AOC

Alex Pullin wants to dominate the pre-Winter Olympics season despite failing to convert his snowboard cross favouritism four years ago into success in Sochi.

The Australian world No.1 will begin the European leg of the 2017/18 World Cup in France next week, after starting the season with two gold medals in Argentina in September.

In 2014, two-time world champion Pullin travelled to the Sochi Olympics as the gold medal fancy before finishing 13th after a quarter-final elimination.

The 30-year-old noted the similarities between the two campaigns but will resist the temptation to take a different tack by easing towards Pyeongchang in February.

"There's a lot of familiar situations I can draw on, but it's also four years ago," Pullin told AAP from his Austrian training base.

"There has been a lot of racing since.

"Every World Cup we compete at, every single top competitor is at each of those events.

"I intend on going there shooting for gold.

"All I'm aiming for right now is to get to the Olympics with everything possible that I could have done to prepare completed."

Next year's games will be Pullin's third Olympics after he crashed out in Vancouver in 2010 and got caught behind the pack in placing fourth in his quarter-final race four years later.

Pullin, the opening ceremony Australian flag-bearer in Sochi, was adamant a third-straight disappointment would not taint how he looks back on his career.

"One day every four years won't defy who I am as a person," he said.

"The main thing is I feel incredibly lucky to be where I am but I've worked my arse off to get here.

"What I love about this sport is it gives me an opportunity to constantly be challenged.

"The days when I get to the end and I'm first to the line in the final, it's a really good day.

"Some days you might be second or third, or further down the line, and it's a matter of taking away what you can."

Pullin will compete in World Cup events in Val Thorens, Austria's Montafon and Cervinia in Italy this month before January's meets in Turkey, Bulgaria and Germany.