Txema Mazet-Brown has been a member of the Snow Sports NZ National Development Team since 2018. He competes in Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air.
1st place at the 2023 Davos Big Air European Cup, 8th place at the 2022 Park & Pipe Junior World Championships Big Air, 8th place at the 2022 Europa Cup Premium Big Air, 4th place at the 2022 Winter Games NZ STOMP Big Air, 3rd place at the 2021 FIS Slopestyle at The Remarkables, 3rd place at the 2019 FIS Slopestyle at Cardrona.
Born on Reunion Island next to Madagascar, Txema started to spend his winters in the snow in France (his father’s home country) as soon as he could walk. When Txema was three years old his family moved to Raglan, NZ and would take trips to Mt Ruapehu on the weekends. Txema’s dad taught him to snowboard at Mt Ruapehu when he was eight years old.
Txema started competing in snowboarding from age 10 in local Mt Ruapheu events. In 2016 he came down to Wānaka for the first time to compete in the Junior Freestyle Nationals. It was his first time competing in the South Island and he was inspired and impressed by the level of competition.
In 2017 Txema’s family made the decision to move down to Wānaka for the full winter season. His dad worked as a Cardrona High Performance Centre snowboard coach and Txema was in his training group. During that season Txema started spending more time training with coach Ollie Midgley and it was good opportunity for Txema to try training with someone other than his dad.
In 2018 Txema got talent ID’d by Snow Sports NZ and started training with Snow Sports NZ coach Nick Brown. This is when Txema realised it was a realistic dream that he could pursue snowboarding as a career.
Txema headed to LAAX, Switzerland in 2022 for the first time and trained in the world class terrain parks there. He competed in the biggest events of his career so far; the Europa Cups, the World Rookie Tour Finals and the FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships where he finished eighth in Big Air.
In 2023 Txema won the Davos Big Air European Cup event, a huge achievement against some of the best up and coming European snowboarders.
In the coming years, in the build-up to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, Txema aspires to finish in the top five at World Cup events, make the NZ Team for the Olympics and finish in the top five in both Big Air and Slopestyle at the Olympics.
Long term Txema dreams of getting invited to the prestigious Winter X Games and Dew Tour, film both street and backcountry segments in a snowboard film and be the kind of rider who can inspire other snowboarders and continue to shred and enjoy snowboarding with his mates, while still pushing each other.
Txema’s biggest snowboarding inspirations are Dusty Henricksen and Luke Winklemann for their sick style and Txema aspires to develop his own signature style too. Kiwi Tiarn Collins is another inspiration and Mark McMorris for the hard work and ethic he has in the competition scene.
When Txema isn't snowboarding you will find him surfing and skating.
