It has been speculated that cognitive performance may play a role in injury risk during sports-related movements such as jump landings. However, there is a paucity of research concerning this hypothesis. PURPOSE: The present study aimed to elucidate the potential association between brain function and biomechanical stability as well as decision-making success in an unanticipated jump-landing task. METHODS: Twenty healthy male participants (27±4 years) performed 70 counter-movement jumps with single-leg landings (n=35 anticipated/ unanticipated each) on a pressure plate. In the anticipated condition, the required landing leg was indicated already before take-off. For the unanticipated jumps, this information was presented only during the flight phase. Biomechanical landing quality was estimated from vertical peak ground reaction force (pGRF), time to stabilization (TTS), center of pressure path way (COP), and standing errors (i.e. falls, touching the ground with the free leg). Decision-making accuracy was assessed as the amount of landing errors (wrong/both feet). Differences between conditions as well as their associations with several measures of cognitive function were analyzed controlling for relevant covariates. RESULTS: Unanticipated landings resulted in higher COP values (588 vs. 516mm, p<.001, d=.65) and more standing errors (n=2.1 vs. 0.3, p<.001; d=1.1) than anticipated trials. While the biomechanical deficit was not related to cognitive function (p>.05), there was an unexpected correlation between the increase in standing errors and higher cognitive flexibility (r=-.481, p=.037) as well as better working memory capacity (r=.502, p=.028). An opposite pattern was found for the landing errors occurring in the unanticipated condition: poor decision-making was associated with deficits in cognitive flexibility (r=.609; p<.001) and working memory (r=-.500; p< .05). CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive function may be an important but understudied moderator of unanticipated jump landing safety. Further research should be dedicated to the development of specific training methods aiming to improve movement-related decision-making under time constraints.