Young Sports Personality of the Year 2023: Snowboarder Mia Brookes wins award

Snowboarder Mia Brookes is crowned Young Sports Personality of the Year

Snowboarder Mia Brookes has been named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2023.

Brookes became the youngest world champion in snowboarding, and Britain's first in slopestyle, when she won gold in February - a month after turning 16.

Since stepping up to senior level this season she has claimed World Cup silver in both slopestyle and big air.

"It's one of my biggest dreams. I can't thank anyone enough," Brookes said as she reflected on a successful season.

Too young to compete at last year's Winter Olympics in Beijing, Brookes is setting her sights on Milan-Cortina 2026.

"The Olympics in the next two years... I want to keep going and try and get the gold there," she said.

Archer Penny Healey and wheelchair basketball player Charlie McIntyre were also shortlisted for the award.

Brookes, who started snowboarding aged 18 months, made her debut at World Cup level in October 2022.

Since being shortlisted for the Young Sports Personality award, she has finished her first senior season - securing the overall freestyle snowboard World Cup big air title.

She finished in the top five in all four 2023 big air World Cup competitions, including a second-place finish in Edmonton earlier this month, to top the rankings.

Mia Brookes wins gold to become first British snowboard slopestyle world champion

At February's World Championships in Georgia, she was in the silver-medal position after her first run with a score of 86.41 to New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's 88.78.

However, the Briton's gamble of attempting the Cab 1440 - a highly complicated four-rotation 1440 switch named after legendary skateboarder Steve Caballero - earned her a winning 91.38 score.

The judging panel for the Young Sports Personality of the Year award consisted of former England footballer Theo Walcott, triple European champion sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, double European champion diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, and double Paralympic and world champion rower Lauren Rowles, as well as representatives from BBC Sport, Blue Peter and the Youth Sport Trust.

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