Britain could be collecting a bumper medal haul at the Winter Olympics – with Sandbach’s snowboarding superstar one of the main medal hopefuls.
Ms Brookes, (18), named Young Sportswoman of the Year by “The Sunday Times” and BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2023, was named by Britain’s chef de mission Eve Muirhead as one of the top medal hopefuls; Ms Muirhead won a curling gold four years ago in Beijing, her fourth Olympics.
Those games produced just one other medal but Ms Muirhead told TNT Sports that Team GB could obliterate its record of five winter golds at Milano Cortina 2026.
“It’s a young team and it’s a team that has a lot of potential,” Ms Muirhead told TNT Sports.
“If you look at the previous winter season, we had nine World Championship medals – that’s the most we’ve ever had leading into a Winter Olympic Games.
“We’ve got a great breadth of opportunity, from ice dance to bobsleigh, skeleton to snowboard cross, curling … you name it. We’re definitely more competitive in a wider variety of sports than we ever have been.”
She said that Ms Brookes was the most obvious headline athlete, bidding for medals in slopestyle and big air, but she was far from alone.
Matt Weston has started the skeleton season “on fire”, she said, with team-mate Marcus Wyatt also impressing. Charlotte Bankes continued to set the standard in snowboard cross. Skaters Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were genuine medal contenders on the ice, as were freestyle skiers Zoe Atkin and Kirsty Muir on the snow.
Dave Ryding will chase history in slalom at a fifth – and final – Games aged 39. In the curling, Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds return with the chance to re-take the gold.
The team chief said: “We could record a great number of firsts. We could have our best-ever start. We could have the first British athlete to win two or more medals in a Winter Olympics – there’s Mia Brookes, there’s Bruce Mouat, there’s Jenn Dodds, there’s Matt Weston if he does the mixed skeleton.
“Bruce and Jenn could become our most decorated Winter Olympians. They have a huge opportunity in the mixed doubles and the team event. We will cherish every opportunity and every medal we can get.”
She added: “We’ll cherish every medal we can get, but I’m not going to sit here and try and predict things.”
Ms Muirhead, who will “lead, manage and support” Team GB’s entire delegation at Milano Cortina, says that the time zone in Italy would also be a bonus for British athletes and fans.
“The four Winter Olympics that I’ve been at, the time zone has never been great,” she says.
“So for this Olympics, we’ve got a massive opportunity with that one-hour time difference. For us, that’s massive. Plus, the stadiums will be full for the first time since Pyeongchang.
“The Winter Olympics have got everything that young fans want to see: style, creativity, flair. That’s what makes them so exciting to watch. And we’ve got a massive opportunity with a team packed full of potential.”
Ms Brookes learned to snowboard aged 18 months at Kidsgrove ski centre, where her grandfather worked. Her parents spent five ski seasons in Chamonix, France when Brookes was young, living out of a camper van, and she also continued her snowboarding at Chill Factore. She attended Sandbach High School, often studying remotely.
She met the GB Snowsport Freestyle coaches in Laax when she was ten, and later that year was selected to the team’s development squad.
In January 2025, she claimed her first World Cup slopestyle win with victory in Laax. Her success came one day prior to her 18th birthday. The following month, she recorded third-placed finishes in the slopestyle in both Aspen and Calgary, and also won her second consecutive Crystal Globe in the big air.
In March 2025, she won the overall Snowboard Park and Pipe World Cup title after a season in which she claimed seven podium finishes including three victories. She finished 35 points clear of second-placed Mari Fukada.
The 2026 Winter Olympics, the XXV Winter Olympic Games and known as Milano Cortina 2026, takes place from 6th to 22nd February at sites across Lombardy and north-east Italy.
Snowboarding will be held at Livigno Snow Park.
(Photo: GB Snowsport).
