Mia Brookes finishes fourth in big air final as Team GB's wait for medal at Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics continues

Team GB's wait for a medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics goes on after Mia Brookes fell just shy of the podium in Monday's big air final. Brookes comfortably landed her first two runs but knew she had to pull out a high score in her third in order to rise from her provisional fourth place. Brookes' medal hopes were over when she over-rotated the landing on her ambitious backside 1620.

Mia Brookes fell just shy of the podium in Monday's big air final as Team GB's wait for a medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics continues.

Brookes, who has developed a reputation as one of the greatest tricksters in the women's snowboarding field, landed her opening two runs - a cab 1440 and backside 1260, which took her to a provisional fourth.

Knowing she had to score highly in order to make the podium, Brookes ambitiously attempted a backside 1620 on her third and final run - but over-rotated her landing as her medal hopes in the big air faded away.

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She will, however, still have the chance for a piece of maiden Olympic silverware with the slopestyle event getting underway on February 16.

"I gave it everything and I can go home saying that," Brookes told TNT Sports. "I pushed myself, I am stoked that I tried that trick to be honest. As soon as I fell I was looking forward to the slopestyle. I might have to learn some new tricks."

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who finished first in qualifying, looked set for victory by landing stunning second and third attempts after falling on her first.

'I gave it everything' - Brookes reacts after missing out on big air medal

Video credit: TNT Sports

However, a frontside 1440 by Japan's Kokomo Murase saw her clinch dramatic gold.

Brookes was the second of Team GB's 'Golden Girls' to fall just short of a medal on Monday, after Kirsty Muir placed fourth in the women's freeski slopestyle.

Making her Olympic debut, Brookes said there is a natural pressure that comes with the Games being a quadrennial event.

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"It was definitely quite nerve-wracking," she said. "You've got to give it everything you've got because you only get to try it once every four years. A lot of pressure, but apart from that it's really chill."

The bond between the women's snowboarders in Monday's final was visibly strong, as they congratulated one another at the bottom of the hill, and winner Murase was at the centre of a group embrace following her winning jump.

In the TNT Sports studio, expert Aimee Fuller was left in awe of the standard on display.

"We saw the 1620, we’ve never seen that before," she said. "Six and a half full rotations, she got it down, but it wasn’t quite clean enough in terms of the execution.

"When you look at the rest of the field , and the tricks we saw tonight, this is mind-boggling stuff. These are tricks we saw the men do at the last Winter Olympics. It’s such a showcase for the sport of snowboarding on the global stage."

And Fuller was certain that should Brookes have posted the same score at the Beijing Winter Olympics four years ago, she would have ended up on the podium.

'Mind boggling' - Fuller says Brookes would have bagged medal in 2022

Video credit: TNT Sports

"Without a doubt," Fuller said. "She had two solid runs on the board, both great tricks. She did the backside 1260 and then the cab 1440, so huge tricks, that would, without a doubt, have claimed a medal in the last event.

"It’s the fact that we’re here and it’s the Olympics, it’s the biggest stage on the planet. My mind is boggled." 

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