PUBLISHED ONNovember 16, 2022 10:30 AMByMelissa Teo When it comes to jumpscares like bread popping out of toasters and haunted houses, world champion indoor skydiver Kyra Poh isn't a fan.
However, ask her to leap into a wind tunnel or off a plane thousands of feet above the ground and she would gladly do so.
For the past 12 years, the tenacious 20-year-old has won numerous awards, such as champion for the 4th World Cup of Indoor Skydiving (WCIS) and 2nd FAI European Indoor Skydiving Championships 2022.
In fact, the sport is such an integral part of Kyra's life that she admits to AsiaOne that she "can barely remember a lot of memories" before she started flying.
So, when we met up with her at iFly Singapore one sunny afternoon, you bet we were eager to check out some of her moves.
But apart from watching her deftly and gracefully maneuver around the wind tunnel, We also got to chat with her about the challenges and sacrifices she had to make to become the award-winning athlete she is today.
Living her childhood dream
Not many can brag about turning their childhood dreams into a reality and Kyra is one of the lucky ones who can.
She got her first taste of flying when her mother, Carolyn Teo, was helping iFly Singapore with their advertisements.
The indoor skydiving attraction had been looking for children to star in their publicity material and Carolyn thought, why not let my daughter be a part of this too?
"When my mum asked me if I wanted to try it out, of course, as an eight-year-old, I said yes," Kyra recounts.
And while swooping around a wind tunnel for the first time may seem intimidating to some, young Kyra enthusiastically took on the experience with confidence.
"My first time was not scary at all. I really love adrenaline and ever since young, I liked to take roller coasters and anything very thrill-seeking," she said, adding that from then onwards, she knew that this was a sport she wanted to pursue.
In fact, she was so addicted to flying that her mother would use it to motivate her to work harder in school.
"My mum told me when I was young was that if I didn't do my homework, I wouldn't get to fly," she recounts with a laugh.
She didn't just stop at indoor skydiving either.
Eventually, Kyra progressed on to outdoor skydiving and tried it out for the first time on her 12th birthday with a tandem, which involves two people skydiving together.
And though she admittedly does feel a tinge of fear each time she jumps out of a plane as one is "literally falling back into the earth", she says this soon changes to excitement and adrenaline.
"I knew from that moment that when I hit the age of 18, I wanted to get my license."
Juggling school and her passion were no easy feat
It's easy to think that Kyra has it all — a supportive family, fame, and the opportunity to excel in her dream sport.
However, the road to getting there was not easy and she revealed that she had to make plenty of sacrifices along the way.
"This sport, you have to put in a lot of time," she says, adding that while training for the World Cup or World Championships, she would have to be at iFly almost every single day from 6 pm to 10 pm.
"When my friends go out to watch movies or go out and eat dinner, I'll be eating my dinner in the car while rushing for my training," she shares sombrely.
She also didn't have many friends in secondary school because she was always busy travelling and representing Singapore.
Maintaining a social life wasn't the only challenge — having to juggle her studies was pressurising too, especially since she had a lot to prove to her school.
"When I first started out indoor skydiving, it was a really niche sport. So, I had a kind of agreement with my school that in order to let me travel, I would have to kind of excel in my studies as well," she elaborates.
However, despite having more to worry about than her peers, Kyra has no regrets.
"The amount of fun and passion I have for the sport is definitely worth, like giving it all up," she admits.
She was told that skydiving wasn't for kids
Since she started competing at the tender age of 10, Kyra has met a plethora of athletes from all over the world and some of them were even thrice her age.
However, despite having opportunities to compete along others with years of experience, some people told Kyra and the younger athletes that they did not belong there with them.
"We used to have people coming up to tell us that the sport is not meant for kids or not meant for young women like ourselves," she revealed.
But while all this was "really discouraging", Kyra and her fellow young athletes refused to let it get to them.
"We know that if we wanted to compete and wanted to keep on going, that was just something that we would have to deal with."
Broken ribs aren't enough to deter her
Like any other sport, indoor and outdoor skydiving comes with its own risks.
Kyra has had her own fair share of accidents, like in 2018, when she fractured a rib while getting her outdoor skydiving license in Norway.
On her 16th jump, while trying to land, she hit a fence and landed on the ground chest first, causing her to fracture her ribs.
While it was a minor fracture, it prevented Kyra from completing the course within the stipulated period, leaving her feeling "discouraged".
However, the incident didn't deter her from taking on the skies again, and instead, she took it as an opportunity to learn how to fly even better.
Eventually, she managed to get the exact same license two years later in 2020.
And while she was admittedly "nervous" the first time she jumped out of the airplane again, she managed to "compartmentalise" how she felt before facing the sky once again.
Oddly enough, Kyra is actually appreciative that the accident occurred when it did.
"I think it's nice that this happened right from the start when I did my outdoor skydiving course because I realised that definitely, this sport, like any other sport, comes with different risks. And I have to be always aware and make sure that I am taking the sport seriously," she reflects.
One thing she also learned is that even if one is fearful of something if you really want it, you have to get over the fear and just continue the journey.
"If I had stopped there, I mean, I wouldn't have experienced that much fun that I've had in the last one year of doing it again, and I wouldn't have so much opportunities that I've been getting this year," Kyra shares.
melissateo@asiaone.com
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