Winter Olympics 2026: Team GB’s Mia Brookes places fourth in snowboard big air final
What could have been a magical Monday for Team GB ended rather quietly.
It started with skier Kirsty Muir finishing an agonizing fourth in the ski style final and followed suit for Mia Brookes in the snowboard big air race; Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds missed out on a guaranteed curling medal opportunity in the mixed doubles.
But he came so close to victory for Brookes that a back trick of 1620 involving four and a half spins landed before he spun too far and the edge of his heel caught in the snow.
“It was a gold medal,” said Ed Leigh on BBC Sport commentary.
“He almost had it. It would have been a world first in competition.”
Instead, the 19-year-old finished just off the podium, scoring a combined 159.50 points in his first two runs.
Japan’s world champion Kokomo Murase won her first Olympic gold with 179 points, while New Zealander Zoi Sadowski Synnott and South Korean Yu Seungeun won silver and bronze medals.
“It was crazy. I was honestly disappointed I couldn’t do that last trick,” Brookes told BBC Sport, later revealing that it was the first time he had tried it on snow.
“I’ve done a lot of turns, but I didn’t think I would. Maybe I should have done an 1800 turn instead!”
Brookes is one of the biggest names in his sport and despite his young age, he already has a medal collection that many would envy.
She became the sport’s youngest senior world champion with a Slopestyle gold medal in Georgia in 2023; This victory was sealed by landing the first Cab 1440 double dipper in a women’s competition.
He has since won two gold medals at the X Games, an invitation-only event considered the holy grail of action sports.
There are few – if any – athletes within the ranks of Team GB who have cut a more unflappable figure than Brookes at these Games so far.
An Olympic medal was never something he was “longing for”, but the magnitude of this global event has perhaps fulfilled his purpose and he is “pretty excited” to get another shot at a medal in Slopestyle, which starts with the qualifiers on February 16.
“I’m excited for it, anything good can come from it. I’m in a good headspace and ready to do Slopestyle.”
