Mia Brookes

In a snowboard world where Olympic medals are traditional currency, Mia Brookes is snowboarding’s crypto.

Mia is a talented snowboarder, who despite her young age has shone brighter than many more experienced than her. Brought up through the traditional contest system yet has kept her anarchic roots intact, thanks to her parents who did winter seasons during the UK’s burgeoning snowboard scene in the 90s. Her rise to stardom has been, in a word – stratospheric, achieving the youngest ever world champion in 2023 aged 16. Nourished on style, heritage and not caring what others think, Mia’s style and talent has influenced judges to now place emphasis on style as much as difficulty. Her snowboarding is a true bastion of hope for the future, especially given that she competes in finals in leather jackets instead of Lycra… Mia is everything good about snowboarding in 2025.

Where are you right now?

I’m in Laax at the moment for the holidays. World Cup season starts again pretty soon so it’s nice to be cruising with my mates here. Everyone has such a good vibe, there’s not too much pressure. Comp riders, the crew that are there to ride rails – it’s one big family. When I was younger I used to spend a lot of time here, now with World Cup commitments etc it’s harder to spend a long time in one place but it’s a place that is really special to me and I love coming back.

Give us a little background on yourself?

I started snowboarding when I was 18 months old, so pretty young. I grew up snowboarding with mum and dad mainly in France, we would go away from the UK for a few holidays a year and just snowboard all the time. Probably when I was six or seven we started to take it more seriously and when I was nine or ten we would commit to more seasons to compete.

Talk us through your journey in snowboarding.

It's been a crazy journey! I started so young, I was about 9 when I was put on the GB team. I think I started doing Europa Cups when I was about 13 and then moved onto World Cups when I was 15, it’s been a pretty crazy ride for such a small amount of time.

How is it hailing from the UK?

It’s definitely challenging coming from a country with no mountains, of course. But I also feel that can be a help, as when I am home I don’t even think about snowboarding – there’s no pressure - so I naturally want to go to the mountains and I feel inspired to snowboard. Even without the mountains, the snowboard scene in the UK is as big as it is vibrant, it’s an honour to represent the whole community on a world level.

What and who inspires you in snowboarding?

I would say I take my style inspiration from probably Dusty Henricksen, Rene Rinnekangas is up there as well for me because he’s so creative. Growing up in a snowboard household, all the 90s Forum films were always an inspiration – such amazing style. I appreciate anyone that puts their own twist on things with their own style, that freedom to approach from different angles is such an important part of snowboarding.

And outside of snowboarding? What gets you fired up?

Music, 100%. A lot of heavy metal. Playing guitar, I like to skate a lot as well. I watch so many concerts on planes – it gets me super hyped. Music became a pretty big obsession for me two years ago or so. Over that two years it’s definitely grown and I’ve found so many new bands that I’d never have imagined listening previously.

I feel there’s a lot of crossover between snowboarding and music. Depending on what’s going on, different music has such a different vibe. Before a comp I’ll listen to really heavy, fast music to get me hyped up. I feel like when you’re competing in a big air finals, especially at night it definitely gives off an energy like you are playing a concert in-front of a huge crowd.

Kurt Cobain is definitely someone that I look up to, the fact that he just did what he did and didn’t really care what anyone thought was so dope, also the fact that his music created a new wave of people and styles. I feel there’s a lot of similarities in that respect between musicians and snowboarders.

If you could only have a guitar or snowboard, what would you choose?

Snowboarding is obviously such a special thing to do but the amount of times I’ve day dreamed about playing a huge stadium full of people…. No comment!

Any dream line ups of guitarist, singer, drummer, bassist?

Great question… On guitar I’d have to say Dimebag Darrell or maybe Wes Borland. Singer I’d say Layne Stanley, Chris Cornell or Kurt Cobain. Drummer; definitely Joey Jordison and on bass, Cliff Burton.

You just won the big air world cup in Austria, talks us through that?

I won the last one in Beijing, which felt amazing. I went in with the same mindset, wasn’t really too bothered about winning, just wanted to do my runs and put down the tricks I wanted to which ended up working. It felt crazy to win back-to-back events, I couldn’t be happier. When I was younger I used to stress a lot about competitions, now I’ve really chilled out. If you don’t land, you don’t land and that’s it. Just try your best, enjoy it and have fun. It took me a long time to learn that.

And will you be taking that mindset forward towards the Olympics?

For sure, I really want to win an Olympic gold medal, and I think after this run I’ve had there is a lot of pressure around that on me leading up to that - so I’m really happy I’ve got this more chilled mindset towards it and can block it out all the noise.

Have you had any notable injuries?

I had a pretty big concussion a couple years back, in 2021 at the end of the season. I caught my toe edge, riding up the take-off of the last jump in Corvatsch and had to get helicoptered out. The last thing I remember before was calling my dad on the lift to tell him to film the middle jump and then next thing I remember was being in the MRI scanner. It was a pretty crazy end to the season and couldn’t snowboard or do anything for 3 months, so yeah that summer wasn’t the best.

Outside of contests, what else do you love in snowboarding?

All of it, the whole filming and creative side of it is really attractive for me. I love filming, choosing the music – that whole creative process is a lot of fun. I love the fashion of snowboarding, you can be so expressive. Everything snowboarding from the 90s and early 2000s really hypes me up. After contests I would love to get more into street and backcountry. Snowboarding is such a beautiful, comprehensive culture – I love it.

How would you describe the vibe within the Vans snow team?

Will Smith and Sparrow being on Vans from the UK was a massive inspiration for me… It was always cemented in my brain that Vans was the brand to be on. When I was invited to be on the team that was a massive moment for me, I grew up dreaming of being on Vans! The Vans team is stacked with some dope people and to be in that crew right now is really special.

Favourite Vans boot to ride in?

I ride the Encore Pro and it’s insane! Would literally recommend it for everything on the mountain - it’s the perfect boot.

Any last words? A message for the internet? A message to your former self?

Enjoy everything that gets thrown at you, it might suck at the time but you’ll look back on it one day and realise it was all worth it. It’s all part of the journey. Also make time to head out of the park and go bomb pistes with your mates. It’s the best.