16-year-old Brit, Mia Brookes, has set a number of new records in the snowboarding slopestyle at the 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships currently underway at Bakuriani in Georgia.
The FIS reports that on Monday Brookes became the first women to land a 1440 in competition (and possibly the first woman to land a 1440, full stop), while besting two-time reigning slopestyle World Champion and Olympic gold medallist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) to become the youngest FIS Snowboard World Champion in history.
“I was at the top of the course and my coach said, ‘If you want to win this just try the 1440’ I tried the 1260 in practice, I came around and almost went 1440, so I knew it was possible on this jump. I tried it [the 1440] once before in Absolute Park but this is the first time I’ve stomped it so I am super happy,” said Brookes.
“Winning a medal here means a lot to me since it’s my last slopestyle competition of the season,” said Sadowski-Synnott, who took silver, “And it’s sick to land my run. Of course I wanted to try and back up the World Champion title, but I did everything I could and I am so stoked for Mia. Mia is leading snowboarding competition at the moment, especially on the jumps, and pushing all of us girls to ride our best.”
Bronze went to the woman that Brookes displaced as the youngest World Champion in FIS Snowboard history, as now 24-year-old Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan – winner of the Kreischberg 2015 World Championships just over eight years ago, also at the age of 16 but two months older than Brookes is now – returned to the World Championships podium.
