At the age of 17, Maja Kuczyńska is setting the world of indoor skydiving on fire. In 2015 Maja won the title of Junior World Champion in the Freestyle Category at the first World Skydiving Championships in Prague. Over 2 million people have viewed a Facebook video of her highlight reel (shown below).
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Maja traveled throughout Europe because of her father’s work, spending five years living in Munich, three in Kiev, and three more in Prague, before returning to Poland two years ago. She speaks German, French, Russian, and English, claiming that she speaks English better than her native Polish. Maja practiced gymnastics for six years before entering the sport of Indoor Skydiving at age 11.
Inspired by her dad’s love of skydiving, Maja first jumped with him when she was ten years old. She says that she had never felt such a sense of freedom and from that moment knew that skydiving would be a part of her life. Maja states that every time she enters the wind tunnel, she feels that same sense of freedom and joy and that makes her smile.
Maja says that when she first entered the wind tunnel at age 11, she immediately enjoyed it and, while she never thought of skydiving as a career, her recent success has caused her to rethink that. Currently, preparing to compete in the 2017 World Cup, Maja says that winning this year’s event, held in Warsaw, is a dream of hers. Her training includes elements of breakdancing, ballet, and gymnastics. With over 400 hours spent in wind tunnels, with wind speeds of 280 km/h, Maja’s longest wind tunnel experience lasted for 60 minutes.
Recently, Maja once again took to the air for the filming of a documentary. Completing a skydiving course in Empuriabrava, Spain, Maja’s first jump was a tandem jump, but she soon jumped solo, performing the same maneuvers as in the wind tunnel, and has jumped a total of 40 times. When comparing traditional skydiving to the indoor sport, Maja finds that the two are entirely different. Walls of the wind tunnel limit space, whereas in traditional skydiving those limits are gone and replaced by restricted time, 40 seconds before having to open the chute. She also notes that having the parachute pack on her back restricts her movement in the air and while skydiving is a great adventure, plans to stick to the sport of indoor skydiving.
Whatever Maja Kuczyńska chooses to do in the future, traditional or indoor skydiving, she will continue as someone to watch, and we will see much more of her for years to come.
https://www.facebook.com/Kuczynska.Maja/videos/1721886188048499/
