Great Britain’s Mia Brookes is the youngest ever snowboard world champion, after claiming snowboard slope-style gold at the age of just 16 in last years world championship final.
Mia Brookes recently underlined her world champion status by claiming another major title in the discipline, at the 2024 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. The teenager has already broken new ground in her fledgling freestyle career, with the sky appearing to be the limit in more ways than one.
First Steps into Snowboarding
Mia Brookes was seemingly destined to make waves in the world of snow sports having been strapped to a snowboard from just 18 months old. Born in Sandbach in Cheshire, Brookes was first introduced to the sport at Kidsgrove Ski Centre in Stoke, where her grandfather was an instructor. As a child, Brookes would travel around Europe in her family’s motor home, most notably spending time in the French resort of Chamonix where she swiftly became a natural on a board. As well as being at home on a snowboard, Brookes is also a gifted surfer and was even offered the chance to skateboard for Great Britain before committing her competitive future to the snow, allowing skateboarding to be for fun and relaxation.
While Great Britain have strong recent history in freestyle snowboarding, in the shape of Winter Olympic medalists Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan, Brookes is and has from a young age been regarded as one of winter sports brightest global prospects having been selected by GB coaches aged just 10. Following her selection, she trained with the British freestyle coaches predominantly in Laax, Switzerland whilst competing on the world rookie tour gaining valuable experience.
Making History
Mia Brookes announced her arrival on the international scene at the 2022 World Junior Snowboarding Championships held in Leysin, Switzerland, where she claimed gold in the big air event and silver in the slopestyle. The junior world champion was forced to bide her time however, as she was too young to compete at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Despite this, Brookes continued to forge a path in to the senior ranks from that moment on.
At just 16 year old, even being on the start list for the 2023 world championship final was a remarkable feat, though this particular teenage competitor had her eyes set firmly on the prize in Georgia. After her first run on the slopestyle course, Brookes was in second place behind kiwi athlete Zoi Sadowski-Synnott with a score of 86.41. In order to turn silver in to gold, she was prepared to attempt to put down a run that included a double grab Cab 1440, a trick never landed in a women’s snowboard event before.
As Brookes approached the third kicker of her second run, nobody could have anticipated the level of skill and bravery that would be produced by the Brit, as she made history by landing the Cab 1440 before maintaining the composure needed to finish the run. As a score of 91.38 appeared on the scoreboard, the enormity of the achievement dawned on Brookes as she moved into gold medal position. A nervous wait followed as Sadowski-Synnott tried to respond, but the New Zealander had to settle for silver as Mia Brookes was confirmed as world slope-style champion, in the most dramatic of circumstances.
X Games
Having reached the top of the world, Brookes has stated her intentions to stay there in an impressive way. With the overall 2023 World Cup Big Air title already secured, Brookes headed to the X Games in January. The X Games are a big deal for freestyle snowboarders, so when she went on to win slopestyle gold in Colorado, still as the youngest in the competition, it was another significant milestone for this relentless prospect.
Brookes extraordinary accomplishments were deservedly recognised and celebrated when she was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in December, and this has only seemed to spur her on further. Having established herself at the top of the slopestyle standings in Aspen with a second run score of 97.66, she earned herself the right to attack her third and final run. Brookes took advantage of this licence to thrill by treating the crowd to her increasingly trademark Cab 1440, laying down a marker to the rest of the world in the process. Her second run score brought her the victory and her first X games medal, which in typical Mia Brookes fashion, happened to be gold.
Looking ahead to Milano-Cortina 2026
Since she was unable to compete in Beijing as she was too young, Brookes first shot at an Olympic campaign will come in Italy in 2026. The Winter Olympic freestyle snowboard events are set to take place in Livigno in Valtellina, a valley situated in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It’s a venue Brookes is familiar with, as Livigno is a training base for the GB snowsport freestyle coaching regime that Brookes has been a part of since she was 10 years old.
“The Olympics in the next two years… I want to keep going and try and get the gold there,” Mia Brooks told the BBC.
Her performances in the last year have catapulted her to the very forefront of names to look out for even this far out from the games. She kept a keen eye on the Beijing competition, using it as an opportunity to develop her tricks in preparation for the competitions ahead. Brookes has spoken of her aim to qualify for Milano-Cortina and has already invisaged herself with a gold medal around her neck.
The talent and potential in Mia Brookes is unrivalled, and with so many titles achieved and history already made, the future is incredibly bright for this momentous champion.
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