Mia Brookes: How Briton became snowboard's youngest world champion

Mia Brookes was always going to make a lot of noise on the world stage.

A year ago the British snowboarding prodigy was too young to compete at the Winter Olympics - now she is a world champion and landed a trick that no-one had ever done in a women's event.

The 16-year-old wakes up to Metallica, relaxes by doing adrenaline sports and is always on the move - quite literally - in a motorhome her parents bought several years ago to cut down on hotel and travel costs as she pursued her snowboarding dream.

A junior world champion last year, she is now in her first season on the senior international circuit and is living up to the hype that followed her long before she was even a teenager.

So, how did the girl who started out on dry slopes and at snow domes in the UK end up becoming the youngest ever snowboarding world champion?

Motorhome, Metallica and motocross

The daughter of snowboard enthusiasts Vicky and Nigel, Cheshire-born Brookes stepped on to her first snowboard at the age of 18 months.

She was soon honing her skills at the Kidsgrove Ski Centre in Stoke and the Chill Factore in Manchester, while also experiencing the real snow in Europe for several weeks a year with her parents.

"We used to go to the mountains in our motorhome. I'm used to it now, it has allowed us to travel around a lot more and is flexible in terms of getting to different resorts," she said.

"It has been like a second home. Your bags aren't going to go missing in a motorhome!"

Her performances caught the eye of Ski Sunday commentator Ed Leigh, who said five years ago when she was just 11 that it was "difficult not to get really excited about Mia because she is undoubtedly one of the most exciting young talents not just in the UK, but in snowboarding globally".

After success on the junior circuit, Brookes stepped up to senior level this season, winning World Cup silver at the prestigious Laax event in January and being one of only eight riders to get an invitation to the X Games.

And on Monday she became a world champion in Georgia, landing the first Cab 1440 double grab - featuring four rotations of the body in the air while grabbing the board - in a women's event to claim Britain's maiden slopestyle gold.

As usual, she had listened to her favourite heavy metal music before lining up.

"Listening to Metallica gets me hyped up and wanting to land all my tricks," she said.

"It gets me in that mindset in the mornings. If I'm standing at the top of a slope, it helps me visualise when I'm going to drop in.

"I definitely feel like I'm an adrenaline junkie. I used to do a bit of motocross when I was younger, and I like going fast on my snowboard!"

Remote learning and 'not fitting in'

Travelling around so much has meant much of Brookes' schooling has been via remote learning and she has also missed out on 'ordinary' school life - although she sees that as a positive because she "never really fit in".

"Snowboarding has always felt normal to me," she said. "At home, I never found a group that I got along with because we were all so different.

"It was me against five other girls who were interested in totally different things, we always clashed. It is nice to be away and around people who share my passion."

She is also grateful for the support of her parents, who both love snowboarding.

"It has helped me a lot to pursue my dream," she said. "In the summer, we cycle together which keeps your legs strong for the winter and it is a good way to relax.

"It is hard to escape it with snowboards around the house, but it makes me feel at home."

'I'm living my dream'

Brookes' potential has never been in question ever since her senior international event debut in December 2020 at the age of 13, when she placed second at the Europa Cup slopestyle in Corvatsch.

Now she has her sights on the next Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina in 2026, having been too young to compete last year in Beijing.

"I used the last Olympics as a tool to build up my tricks for the next one, so I took the positives out of missing out," she said.

"All of my dreams have been coming true this year. I hope to win gold at X Games and the crystal globe [for the overall World Cup winner].

"That would be pretty insane."

Brookes may have just made history, but you can be sure she is not stopping there.

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