“Met at the ‘Think Big’Her’ event organized by ‘Bouge ta Boite,’ Domitille Kiger reflects on her successes in ‘freefly.’ World champion in 2011 and 2012, the athlete continues to live her passion 23 years after her debut. A parachutist, speaker, entrepreneur: the athlete continually shares her vocation in every possible form. “I started skydiving at the age of fifteen. I fell completely in love with the discipline but also with the community,” says Domitille Kiger.
During two decades dedicated to high-level sports, the athlete won numerous titles, including a World Cup and a World Championship in “freefly” in 2012. Spotted to be part of an artistic team at the Aerokart wind tunnel in 2006, Domitille Kiger started indoor flying in 2008 during a three-month stay in Arizona: “a moment when my life shifted towards full-time skydiving.”
She traded her diplomas for a parachute
Initially graduating with a bachelor’s degree in History from La Sorbonne and later with a Master’s in Audiovisual from ESRA Paris, she completed her studies as her competitive career began. “The difficulty of seeking employment when spending one to two weeks per month in training led me to start working in skydiving, as a freefly coach, the discipline in which I would represent France for 4 years and become the world champion in 2012 at the Dubai World Championships,” explains the champion on Paramag.
Freefly: a blend of extreme sport and artistic discipline
Freefly emerged in the 90s. This discipline of skydiving is an extreme sport that encompasses all positions of free fall: upside down, right side up, on the back, at an angle, on the belly, etc. “It’s an artistic discipline where we create choreographies in the air by jumping from 4000 meters. Freefly teams consist of three members: two performers and a videographer who captures the movements shown to the judges,” details Domitille Kiger. Since 2000, this discipline has been recognized by the Fรฉdรฉration Aรฉronautique Internationale and has its own World Championships.
Beginnings in a female team
After her years in the French freefly team, she joined the Joyriders team in 2013, an international female collective. Involved from the beginning in the creation and development of this team, she primarily contributes to indoor, high-level, and environmental impact aspects of the sport, while also serving as a judge and live-stream commentator.
Today, Domitille Kiger coaches freefly teams and continues to deliver performances at a very high level. “Last year, we attempted a new women’s record, which involves creating the largest figure, attached to each other, in mid-air. We formed a kind of kaleidoscope in the sky. It was an absolutely fantastic success. We broke the record with 80 women from all over the world,” says Domitille Kiger with a smile.
The champion also details the difficulties of such a performance: “We made about fifteen attempts before succeeding. These are jumps that require a lot of concentration, excellent mental management. What’s challenging is handling the pressure, and if a single person is out of place, we have to start over. That’s why we need multiple attempts to break a record.”
A wind tunnel business near Poitiers
After settling near Poitiers in 2020, Domitille Kiger opened a sports wind tunnel, zerOGravity, near Futuroscope. Her involvement in French and international sports politics, along with her business, has “taught me how to communicate effectively within a high-performance team, how to manage my fear and stress, about the concept of risk, and how to pursue my dreams.” The one who gave a TEDx talk on ‘Why I Jump Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane’ continues to share her experiences with the business world.
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