Barrington Teen to Represent the USA at the 2022 World Cup

Fifteen-year-old Gianna Keuer from Barrington, Illinois, will represent the USA in the 2022 World Cup as a member of the first ever all-female 4-way dynamic indoor skydiving team from the USA.

On Saturday, November 13, 2021, Gianna’s 4-way team of young women from across America, won the silver medal at the 2021 US Indoor Skydiving Nationals at iFly in El Paso, Texas, qualifying the team for the World Cup Competition to be held in Belgium in April 2022.

According to Indoor Skydiving World, this sport is now one of the most exciting and fastest growing sports in the world. The first recorded instance of indoor skydiving occurred in 1964, when a Nasa scientist working on the Apollo Space Program experimented with human flight in a vertical wind tunnel built for research on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Indoor skydiving competition requires skill, agility and strength using precise, controlled movements at great speed while suspended in an enclosed transparent tunnel with air recirculating at high velocity. In 2014, indoor skydiving was recognized by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) with competitions now held around the world.

At age 10, Gianna was first introduced to indoor skydiving at iFly in Naperville, where she witnessed an immersive physics demonstration and experienced the thrill of defying gravity by flying in a wind tunnel. By middle school, Gianna was passionate about the sport and began working with world famous professional skydiving coach, Mike Wittenburg, who identified the potential talent in the young Volare 4-Way team of Kiana Adamson (age 15, CO), Bella Capra (age 13, OR), Gianna Keuer (age 15, IL) and Jill Knutson (age 16, NY). “Volare girls are fierce competitors, and really represent the strength of what young women can do through hard work and supporting each other,” says Wittenburg.

Gianna and her Volare teammates from across the USA are inspiring girls to be bold, fearless, and confident – within and outside of extreme sports. Gianna stated that, “Being a part of this awesome team and representing the USA at the World Cup is a dream come true!”

Gianna is an honor student at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, IL. As a fluent Spanish speaker and high school intern for the nonprofit organization Hope’s In, she focuses on educating and empowering at-risk teenage girls who live in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump Community (Zone 3) where she has volunteered each summer for five years.

Representing the USA at the 2022 World Cup in Belgium is the start of a soaring future for Gianna and her teammates, who are striving to make a difference in the world.

To follow Gianna and her team Volare on Instagram go to @gigi_flies and @volaregirls_.