The sky’s the limit as indoor skydiver Kai Minejima-Lee hopes to lift his sport
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Singapore's Kai Minejima-Lee (centre) stands on the podium with silver medallist Lewis Hard (left) and bronze medallist Cesar Rico.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAI MINEJIMA-LEE
SINGAPORE – After winning a historic Olympic bronze medal at Paris 2024, Singapore kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder expressed his intention of making an impact on others through his sport and using his success to shine a light on it.
The 18-year-old’s words have resonated with fellow Singaporean teenager Kai Minejima-Lee, inspiring the indoor skydiver to take on a similar mission.
In the same way Maeder has elevated a niche sport, Kai hopes to do the same with indoor skydiving.
With a double win at the Windobona Madrid Open on Oct 19, the 15-year-old is on track towards achieving his goal.
Kai beat Spain’s Lewis Hard by 1.250 seconds in the final of the solo speed category, in which athletes perform a pre-determined series of moves in the shortest time and with the fewest errors.
He also triumphed in the freestyle category after topping each of the five rounds, in which athletes perform free routines to music as well as two compulsory routines.
Kai, who like Maeder is home-schooled, said: “His (Maeder) path has been quite similar to mine and seeing that he’s able to achieve all these things really pushes me to go for my goals even harder.
“It is a dream of mine to compete in this sport at the Olympics. Max’s sport is one that a lot of people haven’t heard of until recently, which is similar to us, and even though it’s a minor sport, we can excel. Our Singapore team is actually really, really strong, and we’re all really hard-working.”
Indoor skydiving has become more popular globally, but there has been no success in getting it included at the Olympics. While Kai hopes to take part in the quadrennial showpiece one day, he also looks forward to representing the country at other major meets, such as the SEA Games or Asian Games.
Kai, who has a Singaporean father and Japanese mother, said: “I really love the sport, and I love competing in it, and the sport has given so much to me.
“It’s taught me so much sportsmanship and so many life skills in general, like how to deal with losing, how to deal with pressure. I want to give it back. I want to help the sport grow in Singapore.”
Kai also made headlines in April, when he clinched the solo freestyle title in his open category debut at the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) World Cup of Indoor Skydiving in Macau and won a silver in the dynamic four-way open category alongside teammates Vera Poh, Choo Yi Xuan and Jordan Lee.
Kai, who will be based in Europe for training and competitions till the end of the year, will be hoping to add to that haul at a competition in Poland in November and the Luxfly Cup in Luxembourg the following month.
Lawrence Koh, chief executive of iFly Singapore, an indoor skydiving facility in Sentosa where Singapore’s indoor skydivers train, praised the teenager’s feats.
“His continuous wins pave the way for Singapore to be recognised in countries where indoor skydiving is prevalent, and for young Singaporeans to know that they too can join the indoor skydiving community and excel in this sport,” said Koh, pledging to continue his support for the Republic’s indoor skydivers.
