15-year-old Gigi Keuer of Barrington (Brian Hill | Staff Photographer)
Buffeted by hurricane-strength wind, 15-year-old Gigi Keuer of Barrington is flung from one side of the chamber to another, her petite frame spinning, flipping end over end, and soaring into the air before plummeting face-first toward the floor.
But the wind in this chamber at iFly Naperville isn’t in charge. Keuer controls the action, maneuvering through winds approaching 160 miles per hour using subtle movements with her 100-pound body wrapped in a tight, black flight suit topped with a helmet.
“It’s not as complicated — when you do it — as it looks,” says Keuer, who will be competing in the 2022 World Cup of Indoor Skydiving this April in Belgium with teammates Kiana Adamson, 15, of Colorado; Bella Capra, 13, of Oregon; and Jill Knutson, 16, of New York.
Last month, the quartet of teenage girls on team Volare defeated a diverse collection of competitors, including adult men teams, to win the silver medal at the 2021 U.S. Indoor Skydiving Nationals at iFly in El Paso, Texas, and claim a spot in the world championship.
“We were all really proud of how we flew,” says Keuer.
Keuer says she understands the significance of teenage girls succeeding in a world full of barriers, as a volunteer who travels to Guatemala every summer to work with children living near a landfill known as the Guatemala City Garbage Dump Community.
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