At the time of the last Winter Olympics, 16-year-old Indra Brown had never even been in a halfpipe.
Despite skiing for nearly a decade, Brown had not yet tried the massive, U-shaped ramp largely because of a global lack of access; full-sized competitive halfpipes are rarely constructed because of the specialised infrastructure and perfect snow conditions they require.
Back home in Melbourne, true halfpipes are virtually non-existent, but that changed at age 12 when Brown’s family relocated to Canada.
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With a halfpipe located at her local ski hill, she got her first taste of the discipline during a spring camp, dropping in for fun alongside her friends to cap off the season.
Remarkably, the camp was hosted by the Canadian Olympic team, fresh off their return from Beijing 2022.
They had organised the clinic for local ‘groms’ and among the hundreds of young skiers who turned out was Brown.
Among the instructors that day was legendary Canadian skier Cassie Sharpe, whom Brown now competes against.
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At the time, Sharpe was fresh off a silver medal in Beijing to go with her gold from PyeongChang 2018.
Neither Sharpe nor Brown could have predicted the twist of fate ahead, with the former unwittingly mentoring a student who would be challenging her on the world stage by the next Olympics.
“She had a laugh [with us] at the X Games. We had a bit of a chat about it,” Brown’s mother, Anne, tells media, including Wide World of Sports, ahead of Milano Cortina 2026.
“She was really sweet about it.
“She sort of said, ‘I just pretty much encouraged my competition to come out’. She was gorgeous.”
With Brown now competing against — and even outscoring — her idols like Eileen Gu, her ascent to the top of the sport has been nothing short of meteoric.
“It’s pretty cool to see these people that I’ve been watching for so many years now and idolising their skiing,” Brown says.
“To now be able to stand on the podium with them and ski around them, it’s just such an amazing experience. I didn’t think I would get this so early, so I’m just so grateful that I’m learning as much as I can.”
Just a year ago, Brown did not think she would be competing at the Olympics.
At last year’s Livigno test event, she was notably absent because she had yet to make her debut on the World Cup circuit.
While she had the goal of reaching the Olympics in her mind, she was careful not to let her expectations get too high because when it comes to freestyle skiing, anything is possible.
Brown’s interest in skiing began with annual family ski trips to Mount Hotham. However, her passion truly took root while living in Canada for several years.
There, life revolves around skiing, unless you play ice hockey, for seven months of the year, and the Browns naturally chose the Calgary slopes.
One of four children, Brown and her younger brother, James, eventually transitioned to freestyle, fuelling one another through a sibling rivalry that is as supportive as it is competitive.
James also competes in freeski halfpipe and is a talent to watch.
“I feel like he loves to push me,” Brown says of the sibling dynamic.
“If he’s doing a trick, I want to be able to do it as well, and we have such a good time just like battling off each other.
“It’s a really good environment for us to grow.”
For the past twelve months, Brown and her coach, Jamie Melton, have developed a sequence of tricks to anchor her perfect run.
Their goal was to build a competitive repertoire for the World Cup circuit and, ultimately, the Olympics.
Driven by that vision, Brown is embracing the journey and is focused on checking off the technical milestones she has set for herself, rather than the pressure of specific scores or rankings.
After finding success on the World Cup circuit this season, Brown is determined to land the specialised, high-difficulty tricks she has long aimed for, though she is keeping her plans close to her chest.
“I’m definitely working on a few things that I’d love to be able to show everyone on the big stage, so stay tuned,” she teases.
Having secured a podium finish in each of her first three World Cup starts following her debut in December, global attention on Brown has surged.
”I just try not to let it get to me, add pressure or anything,” she says of dealing with the newfound spotlight.
“I’m just here to do my runs and keep skiing, and that’s what I’m focusing on. So, I try not to let it distract me.
“It gets tricky at times, but I remember what I’m doing.”
Asked how she adjusted to the elite level of the World Cup circuit so seamlessly, Brown credited her process-driven mindset.
“I love competing, and I love the feeling of landing my runs, and the adrenaline rush I get from it,” she says.
“So, going into these World Cups, I’ve really just had the goal of what run can I do that I’m really proud of, and that I can land, and not focusing on the result or the number I get, but just the run that I want to do.
“[Treating it] like any other competition, it’s not anything different, so I think that’s really helped.”
This is the approach Brown will take into her Olympic debut, entering the freeski halfpipe as one of the formidable contenders for gold.
“There is a thought of [standing on the podium], but I don’t want to go in there with a position I want or a medal I want,” she says.
“I just want to go in there and do my best and be really proud of what I’ve done.
“This is my first Olympics, and I’m only 16 years old now, so I think if I can just go there and make myself proud and be really stoked for what I’ve done, I think that’s a medal in itself.”
Qualifying for the women’s freeski halfpipe begins at 5:30am (AEDT) on Friday.
