If you believe you can fly, you can. Just keep believing as sterling young talent, Kyra Poh (age 14) won the gold medal in the Junior Freestyle category at the 2nd Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) World Cup of Indoor Skydiving in Poland.
Representing iFly Singapore, Poh beat competitors from USA, Australia and Franc, ahead of home favourites Andrzej Sołtyk and Aleksandra Sołtyk, with a total score of 63.3 after nine rounds, where she maintained consistently 9 points and above throughout the rounds.
This win adds to her recent achievement at the 2nd Australian Indoor Skydiving Championships 2016 held in August, where she also took home 1st place in the Open Freestyle category.
The Junior Freestyle category ended with a dramatic twist as Poh lost her shoe in the middle of her flight routine.
“I was really excited and wanted to showcase a perfect performance however when I landed my spin, I accidentally hit the wall (of the wind tunnel) and my shoe came off!” said Poh.
“For a split second, I didn’t know if I should continue but I saw my mom’s face and she was cheering me to go on, so I continued. It was actually a challenge to carry on without my shoe as my routine’s ending includes a move where I had to run on the wind tunnel’s net, and it was slippery and difficult to execute for that last part. I am really glad I managed to finish it!” continued Poh.
When asked about her win, Poh added:
“I think it’s not about the win that matters. It was mostly to 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 I can represent the nation on a larger stage!”
In addition to her gold medal win, Poh and Choo Yi Xuan (age 15) competed together as Team Firefly from iFly Singapore, and placed 4th out of 24 teams in the Dynamic 2way Open category.
The girls competed against competitors with more years of experience from countries such as United Kingdom, Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland. This recent win adds to Team Firefly’s outstanding achievements earned in multiple international indoor skydiving competitions held in countries such as Dubai and the United Kingdom.
For more info, follow iFly Singapore on Facebook.
Watch Kyra Poh air-mazing action in this video courtesy of Team Firefly Singapore, starting at 1:00. Click on the image to view video.
