Dale Begg-Smith has joined French mogul skiing legend Edgar Grospiron as the greatest World Cup champion of all time after wrapping up his fourth title in Sierra Nevada, Spain.
The Vancouver 2010 silver medallist picked up silver in the final event of the season to cap off a remarkable comeback from injury.
Begg-Smith won three events for the season and also collected another three silver medals to post a season score of 693 points, 78 points clear of French skier Guilbaut Colas, who ended his season with the Sierra Nevada gold.
The 25-year-old Australian's ability to claim another World Cup title, just fourteen months after major knee surgery, has amazed AIS Head Mogul Skiing Coach Steve Desovich.
"For Dale to come back and do what he has is extraordinary," Desovich said.
"If you adjust your perspective to last year, February 6, when he was having surgery, and someone said that these were the results he was going to get I don't think any one of us would have believed it – we would have been ecstatic."
"He did very well today. He skied well within himself and skied a typical Dale run, very clean, he did the jumps well, had some good turns and just executed it very well."
"It's a great tribute to Dale that he's very smart and he manages risk masterfully – he's so good in that way. And you have to salute him for being so consistent over time."
"He's won four World Cups in five years, and Edgar (Grospiron) did the same thing in the same way. He won three then had a year off with a knee injury and came back in the fifth year and won again."
"Dale's very protective of his achievements in the sport – I mean he's earned everything and he's very pleased with his ability to be consistent over time."
"He's also proud of the fact that he always qualifies – he has now qualified for 48 straight finals, which is incredible - I don't know if that's a record or not, but I would presume it is."
The fourth World Cup title sees Begg-Smith eclipse the performances of two other stars of the sport, Canadian Jean-Luc Brassard and Finnish skier Janne Lahtela, both of whom won three World Cup titles.
He also has Torino Olympic gold, a world championship title and two other world championship medals in his trophy cabinet.
The final event of the World Cup snowboard cross is also underway in La Molina, Italy, with Alex "Chumpy" Pullin following up last weekend's maiden victory by qualifying in second place.
The La Molina final will be contested Saturday morning, Australian time.