Lena Müller is part of our Windwerk team as an instructor and in Customer Service and has been practicing indoor skydiving as a sport since 2020.
She is currently preparing for the Indoor Skydiving Swiss Championship in the solo freestyle discipline.
A welcome opportunity for us to take a closer look at Lena and the freestyle discipline in the wind tunnel.

 

How did you get into indoor skydiving?

I discovered skydiving at the age of 26 and thus also tunnel sports.
I’m fascinated by how you can make such big changes to the flight sequence with the smallest input of movement.
Being able to fly with your own body is simply fantastic and incredibly fascinating in so many ways. 🙂

Which discipline do you train?

I’m currently focusing on the discipline of freestyle, which you train and perform solo.
Of course, this makes training planning much easier, as I only have to coordinate the training sessions with myself. 😜 The disadvantage is that you can’t split the training costs.
One hour of training per week is the minimum.

Click here for a brief explanation from Lena.

How do you create a “choreography” and how do you rehearse it?
Is there such a thing as dry runs?

First I think about which moves I can fly well and which of them I want to have in the choreo.
Then I try out what works best together and creates a nice flow.
Then, of course, I also try to adapt the whole thing to my chosen song to some extent.
There are some stretches and exercises that give me a better body feeling and more control in certain positions.

What do you find the biggest challenge in practicing this sport?

Unlocking new moves or techniques in the body.
The path from the first exercise with very little wind speed on the net to really fluidly flown moves at high speed can be very tedious and also quite frustrating.
But that’s also what makes this sport so exciting and interesting.
You never stop learning and can constantly develop. 🙂

Have you already taken part in championships?

The Indoor Skydiving Swiss Championship on
10. and
11. March 2023 in Sion will be my first championship.
I actually wanted to take part last year, but then had to pull out due to covid.
So my first goal this time is to be able to take part at all. 🙂 S eriously, I want to fly my choreo as flawlessly as possible and have fun doing it.

Are there any age restrictions for the Swiss Championships?

Basically not.
Anyone can take part, as there is also an open classification.
What I’m not sure about is whether the association will now officially include juniors in the Swiss Championships classification.
Junior structures should actually be created, but the association has not yet officially communicated what the current status is.

Are you planning to take part in other competitions?

Unfortunately, taking part in a championship involves a lot of costs.
After the Swiss Championships, we’ll first evaluate what’s in the budget and then I’ll see what happens. 🙂

In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between skydiving and indoor skydiving – apart from the fact that you jump out of an airplane and have a parachute?

When jumping, you only have 40-60 seconds of free fall per jump.
In the wind tunnel, you have more time to concentrate on your correct position and do the corresponding exercises.
A jump is also definitely less strenuous than, for example, 30 minutes in a tunnel – especially at high wind speeds.
Unfortunately, the wind tunnel lacks the beautiful view. 😛 High fives, beaming faces and hugs are luckily available after a cool jump as well as after a successful tunnel session. 🙂   Get to know Lena in this post.
Follow Lena’s journey to the championships on her Instagram profile!

 

We are keeping our fingers crossed for Lena for the Swiss Championship and will report on how she rocked the wind tunnel.
For us, she’s the winner of hearts anyway 🥰