Great Britain’s Mia Brookes is aiming for victory at the Big Air World Cup – but the youngest world champion in snowboard history still has “a little bit of imposter syndrome”
The 16-year-old will be aiming for more success at this weekend’s tournament in Chur, Switzerland.
“Sometimes I just think ‘how did I even win that?’. But you’ve always got to work hard for something,” she said.
“I feel like I don’t really get nervous, I just get a lot of people are watching me and I have a little bit of imposter syndrome”.
Brookes, who began snowboarding at just 18 months old, said regular visits to France helped her get into the sport.
She has balanced competing with her education, taking her GCSE exams earlier this year.
“I’ve passed all my GCSEs this year and I’m just going to focus on snowboarding,” said Brookes.
She added that her goal is to win gold at the X-Games and “get to the Olympics” before she decides whether to revisit her studies.
Brookes also enjoys skateboarding and surfing, and was offered the opportunity to skate for Team GB but turned it down, preferring to keep the sport for fun.
“If you stick in with the right people, push yourself to the limit, it sets you up for life,” she added.
“I want to maintain podium positions and push on and get some new tricks, but apart from that I think I just want to make sure I redeem myself with what I’ve currently done this past season.”
The young snowboarder also spoke of the climate issues around snow sport.
“We go to the glaciers and its not the same as what it used to be,” she said.
“I think maybe in the next few years we will see improvements from all these campaigns against climate change”.
The Big Air World Cup in Switzerland takes place from 20-21 October.
