Welcome to our live coverage of the Winter Olympics.
Looking down a near vertical ramp from a start-zone some 150 feet in the air, Mia Brookes had twice left herself with no remaining room for error. A fall on her first qualifying jump for Monday’s Big Air final in snowboarding meant that Team GB’s most precocious Winter Olympic talent simply had to nail her final two jumps to be among the 12 finalists.
A blast of preparatory heavy metal music followed and she duly demonstrated why she just might become Britain’s first winter gold medallist on snow in more than a century of trying. “That was insane, awesome; I loved every minute of it,” she said, after following up her early mistake by performing one of the sport’s most difficult tricks – a backside 1260 (with 1260 degrees worth of spins) – before landing nonchalantly from a height of six metres. A single raised arm after both the second and third jumps told its own story. “You’re definitely in the air, spinning, and thinking in the back of your mind, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to land this’. When you do, it’s the best feeling on the planet,” she said.
In a matter of minutes, she had gone from 24th after the first round to 22nd following her second jump before ultimately qualifying in third. So how had she calmed her nerves. Some breathing techniques perhaps? “Not really; I just listen to music honestly and try to block out all the noise.” And what music would that be? “Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Judas Priest.”
Having honed her skills on the indoor ski centre in Manchester, Brookes won the world junior title when she was 15 before becoming the first woman in history to land what is known as a CAB 1440 in competition while winning the senior crown. Her best chance actually comes next week in the slopestyle but no-one doubts that she has the ability to win either. “I never came here to get a medal – I just wanted to come here and show everyone how fun snowboarding is,” she said, of a passion that parents Nigel and Vicky encouraged by driving her to competitions all around Europe in their campervan. The same campervan is also stationed here in Livigno. “I think that was the cheapest option,” said Brookes.