(Reuters) – Britain’s Mia Brookes outclassed Olympic gold medallist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott to become the youngest snowboarding world champion on Monday, when the 16-year-old won the woman’s slopestyle title in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Brooks became the first woman to land a Cab 1440 double grab in a FIS competition and also became the first Briton to strike slopestyle gold in the Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding world championships.
“I honestly feel like I’m going to cry. I’ve never been so happy in my life,” a jubilant Brooks said.
Brooks, who only participated in three World Cup events before the world championships, was too young to compete at the Beijing Olympics last year.
After taking off backwards, Brookes completed four 360 degree aerial rotations while grabbing the board twice before landing as she pulled off the Cab 1440 double grab.
“I had tried it once before in practice and I knew I had to do it if I wanted to win. But then I got really worried because if I landed it, I would just want to jump up and start crying because I’d be so happy,” Brooks added.
New Zealand’s Sadowski-Synnott came second, while Japan’s Onitsuka Miyabi finished third.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
