Weekend Today’s Lauren Phillips mourns the loss of her friend world champion snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin after he died in a spearfishing accident on the Gold Coast
Weekend Today weather presenter Lauren Phillips has spoken about her connection to world champion snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, who died on Wednesday.
Pullin, 32, was spearfishing on Palm Beach on the Gold Coast when he suffered a shallow water blackout at about 10.30am on Wednesday.
Lauren shared a heartfelt message about her late friend on Instagram, revealing he ‘lit up the room’.
RIP: Weekend Today’s Lauren Phillips mourned the loss of her friend world champion snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin after he died in a spearfishing accident on the Gold Coast
‘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.
Friends: The Weekend Today weather presenter revealed her connection to the world champion snowboarder, who died on Wednesday
Accident: Pullin (second left) was spearfishing on Palm Beach when he suffered a shallow water blackout about 10.30am on Wednesday
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.
‘You really were something special,’ Lauren wrote, sharing pictures of herself with the athlete during a snowboarding holiday together
‘Your energy was contagious. You lit up a room. You made everything more fun. The world was a better place with you in it,’ Lauren said
Devastating: Pullin tragically drowned during a spearfishing accident on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, with his family on the beach
‘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.
Loss: Lifeguards gave him CPR until Queensland Ambulance paramedics arrived and took over for about 45 minutes, but were unable to save his life
Tragedy: Pullin (left) was an experienced free diver and was fishing by himself when he drowned
‘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.
Champion: Pullin is pictured holding the Australian flag after receiving one of his World Championships gold medals