GB snowboard star Brookes into big air final

Snowboarding sensation Mia Brookes – one of Great Britain’s most exciting medal prospects at the Winter Olympics – shrugged off an early hiccup to seal her spot in the big air final.

Despite overcooking the landing on her opening run, Brookes cut her usual relaxed figure as she scored a combined 167 points from her two attempts, to qualify in third place.

Although only 19 years old, an Olympic medal is the only accolade missing from Brookes’ collection, having already won World Championship and double X Games gold – both in her preferred slopestyle.

Should Brookes win a medal of any colour in Monday’s final (18:30 GMT), she would become Britain’s youngest Winter Olympic medallist for 78 years.

«I got it down, but it was a pretty scary one,» she told BBC Sport.

«Second run, I was like ‘I’ve got to land this one or else, four years until the next one’.»

Asked how it felt to reach her first Olympic final, she said: «I think I’m more relieved that I landed the tricks. It’s pretty sick.

«I definitely have got more to give, but I don’t know if this is the jump for it.»

Brookes was too young to compete at the last Winter Olympics, four years ago, but she has hit her sport’s greatest heights since.

In 2023, aged just 16, she became snowboarding’s youngest world champion with her slopestyle gold in Georgia, a victory sealed by landing the first Cab 1440 double grab in a women’s event.

Last month she won her second title at the X Games, the invitation-only holy grail of action sports.

«They see her as a legit one of the best to ever do it,» said BBC Sport commentator Tim Warwood before the Games. «She’s a purist’s dream.

«When she’s strapped into a snowboard, you can tell that’s what she was put on this planet to do.»

Brookes’ team-mate Maisie Hill, also making her Olympic debut, placed 29th to miss out on the final.

But while Hill’s big air campaign may be over, she and Brookes will return for the slopestyle from 16 February.

Just becoming an Olympian marks an incredible achievement for 24-year-old Hill, after she nearly died in a training crash three years ago.

She broke multiple bones, including her spine and pelvis, and suffered a grade three laceration in her liver that caused heavy blood loss after the crash into a wall of ice during a training session in Switzerland in January 2023.

«I was leaving hospital three years ago today. I’m pretty proud of myself,» Hill told BBC Sport.

Assessing her runs, she added: «I’m pretty upset, it was going so well all of practice.

«I’m so happy to be here. It’s been so fun. I’ve enjoyed it so much. I feel so blessed.

«I’m better at slopestyle anyway.»

Bruce Mouat had hoped to create «some drama in the stands», and he and Jen Dodds did just that by beating hosts and defending mixed doubles curling Olympic champions Italy 9-6 to silence the Cortina Curling Stadium.

A 7-6 defeat by Switzerland earlier on Sunday was Team GB’s first loss after a stellar start to the competition, with seven successive wins, sealed their own progress to the last four with two games to spare, and the Scottish pair were keen to right that wrong.

They also wanted to further stamp their authority on the competition by topping the round-robin table to ensure they have the advantage of the hammer – the last stone – in Monday’s semi-final, which will be against either the Italians or Sweden.

That will be live on the BBC at 17:05 GMT, with the British pair’s opponents being confirmed after the final round-robin matches earlier on Monday.

«We are absolutely where we want to be and now we rest and recover before the semi-final,» Dodds told BBC Sport.

The Italians were not short of motivation either for the tussle with the GB pair, with their qualification not yet secure, and they started strongly with two in the first end.

However, a scrappy second by Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini – on the ice where she learned the game as a child – allowed Dodds to take three and quieten the boisterous crowd.

The Italians were in good shape in the third, but only took one, and it was a similar situation for GB in the fourth, to give them the lead at the interval.

However, Mosaner botched his final throw in the fifth in what proved a decisive moment. Constantini could only partially retrieve the situation, limiting GB to one, but that steal allowed Mouat and Dodds to open a 5-3 lead.

Italy were not done, causing the noise to come rolling down the wooden bleachers of the quirky venue by compiling a superb sixth end to take three and go back in front.

But Mouat and Dodds kept their shape, taking three in the seventh and then stealing another in the final end to close out victory.

The Italians were crestfallen but, within moments, their own place in the last four was confirmed by results on the other sheets.

«The crowd was amazing. We knew it would almost be like a third player for them and to come out with a win was extra special,» Dodds added.

Italy play the United States on Monday and if they win, the two teams will meet again in the semi-final, with Sweden facing Mouat and Dodds. If the Italians lose, they then take on the British pair with Sweden playing the US.

Norway’s Johannes Hosflot Klaebo clinched the first of a potential six gold medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in the 10km+10km skiathlon.

It takes the 29-year-old’s career Olympic gold tally to six, just two behind the all-time winter record.

That is held by the Norwegian trio of biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen and cross country skiers Bjorn Daehlie and Marit Bjorgen, who are all retired.

Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave was 10th in his fifth Games – just short of his best Olympic finish of seventh in 2018 – with fellow Briton Joe Davis 16th.

«I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit disappointed,» Musgrave told BBC Sport after the race.

«I felt like it was so fast on the first section and straight away I was struggling – it was hot and I was overheating.

«My chances of a good finish were over after the first lap.»

Mathis Desloges took silver after being spared punishment for cutting a corner on the course, earning France their first medal, with Norway’s Martin Lowstrom Nyenget third.