For 19-year-old British snowboarding sensation Mia Brookes, the pressure of an Olympic final doesn’t call for calm meditation—it calls for heavy metal. During Monday’s Big Air final at the 2026 Winter Games, Brookes turned to American groove metal legends Pantera to fuel one of the most dangerous tricks in the sport’s history.
After a rocky start in the qualifiers where she crashed on her first three jumps, Brookes managed to secure a spot in the final. Once there, she explained that aggressive music is essential to her process on the 150-foot ramp.
“I just listen to music to try to block out all the noise going on around me,” she told Olympics.com. “Mostly heavy metal music like Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest, stuff like that.”
Sitting in fourth place and needing a massive score to reach the podium, Brookes decided to go for broke. She attempted a backside 1620—a trick involving four and a half full rotations that had only ever been landed by a woman once before in competition.
Remarkably, Brookes had never actually landed the trick on snow prior to this high-stakes moment.
“It’s not like it’s a trick that I could do,” Brookes told The Guardian. “I’ve only ever done it on the airbag and the last time I tried it was five months ago. So that was the first time I’ve ever tried it on snow. But sometimes you’ve just got to grit your teeth and get it done.”
With Pantera blasting in her ears, Brookes launched herself into the air. She managed to get the rotation around and land on her feet, but the sheer energy of the jump caused her to over-rotate slightly, preventing a clean ride-away and ultimately costing her a medal.
Speaking afterward, she joked that the intensity of the music might have worked a little too well.
“I thought I’d got it and I did get it. I got it to my feet but I just gave it too much power, listening to my music too loud, I spun it too quickly,” she said with a smile. “But yeah, I’m pumped.”
Despite finishing fourth, Brookes was relieved to walk away from such a risky maneuver unscathed.
“I was listening to a lot of Pantera,” she added. “I tried it and I’m not lying in a hospital bed after this, to be honest. All jokes aside, it’s a gnarly trick to do. There is a higher risk, especially when you know I would be the second woman to do it. So, yeah it’s pretty scary.”
This isn’t the first time the reigning Slopestyle World Champion has credited metal for her success. When she became the youngest snowboarding world champion in history in 2023, she highlighted Metallica as her go-to hype music.
“Listening to Metallica gets me hyped up and wanting to land all my tricks,” she told the BBC at the time. “It gets me in that mindset in the mornings. If I’m standing at the top of a slope, it helps me visualize when I’m going to drop in.”
Having previously referred to Pantera on Instagram as her “favourite band evah,” Brookes continues to prove that metal and extreme sports remain a perfect pairing. She will have another shot at Olympic glory in the upcoming slopestyle competition.
"That was a gold right there. For a second she had it in her hands!" 😲
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 9, 2026
Mia Brookes went in search of the gold medal but couldn't quite make it clean enough in her final run. She finishes fourth. pic.twitter.com/t213YQfLSx
