Mia Brookes strapped on her favourite heavy metal music and blasted into the Olympic women’s snowboard Big Air final at Livigno Snow Park on Sunday night.
The 19-year-old flirted with disaster after falling on her first of three jumps, with the cumulative total of the top two scores used to determine the top 12 qualifiers.
But subsequent scores of 89.0 and 78.0 earned Brookes a commanding total of 167.0, sending her into Monday’s final in third place behind Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand and Japan’s Kokomo Murase.
“It was special to land that third one,” admitted a relieved Brookes, who headed into her debut Games under the weight of considerable – and evidently not misplaced – expectation.
“You’re definitely in the air thinking about it in the back of your mind, spinning, like ‘oh my God, I’ve got to land this one’, so it’s special.”
Brookes fell attempting a backside 12 on her first jump but nailed the same trick at the second attempt and a cab 10 proved sufficient in a safety-first third jump that eased her into the final with something to spare.
It raised the prospect of a potentially magic Monday for Great Britain at the venue, with Brookes’ final taking place in the evening, hours after Kirsty Muir targets a medal in the women’s ski slopestyle.
“I’ve grown up with Kirsty and we’ve known each other since we were young,” said Brookes, who executes her jumps to a “heavy” soundtrack including Metallica and Pantera. “To go into an Olympic final on the same day, representing Great Britain, is really special.”
Brookes, whose parents, Nigel and Vicky, are staying nearby in the same battered camper van that they used to ferry her around to junior competitions, has been largely shielded from media duties in the build-up to the Games.
And despite being crowned her sport’s youngest world champion at the age of 16 in 2023, she admitted the prospect of competing at the Olympics had taken the pressure to a whole new level.
“I think the build-up to the Olympics was quite big in the back of my mind, but when I got here it was really chill,” added Brookes.
“It’s been really mellow but it definitely got quite nerve-racking at the top thinking it comes round once every four years, so I’ve got to land.
“I never came here to get a medal, I never came here to get a gold. I just wanted to come here and show everyone how much fun snowboarding is, and if I’m still loving snowboarding as much as I did when I started, then I’ve already won.”
