Buzz grows around Australian Olympic debutant Brown

Melissa Woods | January 24, 2026

Indra Brown continues to put herself in the Olympic medal mix, with the Australian teenager storming to silver in the superpipe at the prestigious X-Games in Aspen.

The 15-year-old was invited to compete in the X-Games in Colorado, a feature competition for the world’s leading snowboarders and freeski stars for the past 25 years.

Snowboard king Scotty James will compete on Saturday night (local time) looking to defend his crown and add to his record haul of seven halfpipe titles and 10 X-Games medals overall.

On the same day that Brown was named in the Australian team to make her Olympic debut in next month’s Milan-Cortina Games, the Melbourne youngster again put her name up in lights in the women’s freeski halfpipe.

Following her stunning results in her maiden World Cup season, bagging three medals, including gold, from three starts, Brown won silver behind Britain’s reigning world champion Zoe Atkin.

Brown opened the scoring with an 80.00, which put her in fourth place after round one.

Showing no fear, she pushed for more amplitude on her second run and was rewarded with an impressive score of 88.33, then improved on that in the final round with a 90.00.

Atkin, one of the favourites for Olympic gold in Livigno, was a cut above with a top score of 94.66.

Canadian Cassie Sharpe, who won silver at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, was third with a score of 87.00.

While Brown continues to create a huge buzz with her results, Australia’s chef de mission Alisa Camplin said at the team naming on Friday that she didn’t want the young star to feel medal pressure at the Olympics, which start on February 6 (local time).

“I’m excited that someone like Indra qualifies at this point of her career,” Camplin said.

“She’ll be 16 at the Games and what I hope is that she can just be open to the whole experience, enjoy it, not heap too much pressure on herself.

“In her first four events on the World Cup season … she’s had three out of four on the podium, so no doubt she’s really hopeful going into the Games. 

“But for our younger generation, being easy with the whole experience and just enjoying it and doing what they do without overthinking it is something I really hope for them.”

Earlier, Australian Tess Coady was unlucky to miss the podium in the women’s snowboard slopestyle event.

Coady, who won bronze in the event in Beijing and will line up again in Italy, scored 86.00 for her final run but was unable to catch Japan’s Kokomo Murase’s best mark of 89.66.

Britain’s Mia Brookes claimed gold with a 96.33 on her second run, with New Zealand’s Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott taking silver after a 93.00 with her third and final run.