Indoor skydiver Kyra Poh captured a gold medal in the junior freestyle category at the Federation Aeronautique Internationale World Cup of Indoor Skydiving which ended yesterday.
Despite losing her shoe in the middle of her performance, the 14-year-old Singaporean kept her cool. She topped the standings with 63.3 points after nine rounds, ahead of Austrian siblings Andrzej (61.2) and Aleksandra (59.4) Soltyk. The competition was held in Warsaw, Poland, from last Tuesday to yesterday.
Kyra said: “I was really excited and wanted to showcase a perfect performance. But when I landed my spin, I accidentally hit the wall and my shoe came off. For a split second, I didn’t know if I should continue, but I saw my mum’s face and she was cheering me to go on, so I did.
“It was a challenge to carry on without my shoe as my routine’s ending included a move where I have to run on the wind tunnel’s net, and it was slippery and difficult to execute… I am really glad I managed to finish it.”
Kyra, a School of the Arts student, had won the Australian Championship Freestyle Open title in August.
She and fellow teenager Choo Yi Xuan, 15, placed fourth for Team Firefly in the Dynamic 2-way category last Saturday. They finished behind teams Vipers, France 1 2WD and Suisse One.
Kyra said: “I think it’s not the win that matters. It will expose the sport of indoor skydiving to Singapore. After my performance in Poland, hopefully this sport will be more well known in Singapore, and I’m also rooting for it to be an Olympic sport one day, so that I can represent the nation on a larger stage.”
jonwong@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Oct 17, 2016.
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