Gymnastics
How contortionist Stefanie Millinger stretches the limits of the human body
The self-styled extreme sports star's impressive acrobatics have earned some influential fans on Instagram. Here, the Austrian explains her philosophy...
It’s hard to know exactly how to describe Stefanie Millinger. The Austrian is an acrobat, a contortionist, a hand balancer, an extreme sports star – but none of these terms quite does it. That’s because 28-year-old, 5ft 1in-tall [1.54m] Millinger has created an unlikely niche for herself, performing feats of incredible strength and flexibility such as completing 342 L-seat-straddle-press-to-handstands (moving from a mid-air splits position, balancing on her hands, to a handstand) in 52 minutes, which earned her an unofficial world record, and supporting her entire body weight using only her mouth (really).
But you’re just as likely to find her balancing on a rooftop, swinging from a bridge or hanging off a cliff, almost always with no safety net. Her self-belief, Millinger says, is the only security she has.
This applies in day-to-day life as much as it does on a cliff edge. Despite making tricks like doing the ironing with her feet look easy, Millinger has had to work menial jobs to pay the rent while devoting six-to-10 hours every day to training, all while ignoring the many critics who couldn’t see a future in her unusual, mind-bending acrobatic displays.
But now, with more than 400,000 Instagram followers, requests to promote big brands, and high-profile fans including US comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan, Millinger is proving she can carve out her own path – while mostly upside down, using only her feet.
Flexible working
© Rick Guest
The Red Bulletin: Have you always had a taste for acrobatics?
Stefanie Milinger: My mum could tell you a thing or two about that. When I was a kid, I constantly used to cartwheel my way around the place and dangle from branches or anything up high.
Did you get that from your parents?
My father’s an undertaker and my mother works for Austrian telecom. No one else in my family is an acrobat or gymnast.
So how did you discover your love of contortion?
I started vaulting when I was 13 – that is, doing gymnastic exercises on horseback, including from the handstand position. I liked the position and the range of motion that comes with the handstand, and I experimented with it at home. Then I couldn’t stop. It’s the same with tattoos – I wanted to stop at 10, but two weeks ago I had my 12th.
I enjoyed the sensation, and I gradually increased the number of minutes I could stay balanced on my hands.
On the roof of Hotel Daniel. The boat is an artwork by the Erwin Wurm
© Rick Guest
Did you have an idol or a specific purpose when you started out?
Neither. I was just doing it for myself. I enjoyed the sensation, and I gradually increased the number of minutes I could stay balanced on my hands. I cobbled together a training plan of core, strength and stretching exercises, and I got up at 4am every day so I could practise my vaulting before school.
When did you first consider making hand balancing a career?
During and after school, I was just as clueless as most people about what to do in the future. In my careers advice tests, I got “something with animals”, nothing very specific. But you’ve got to start somewhere. I often played circuses when I was a kid. I’d build a circus ring out of chairs, make popcorn and then do all the acts for my audience; I was an animal, an acrobat and a clown. I took a look at the facts and found something I enjoyed and that I wanted to build on.
In 2014, you spent three weeks with Cirque du Soleil in Canada…
There have been four requests by Cirque du Soleil, which is a huge honour for me, but I realised that showbusiness isn’t my thing. I see myself as an artist, and I need constant change. I want to reinvent myself every day.
"My body recovers quickly and is very forgiving. It’s a miracle."
© Rick Guest
You were very successful at equestrian vaulting – in 2015, you and your partner Evelyn Freund won a bronze medal in the pas de deux at the European Championships. Why did you give it up?
I was 25 years old at the time, and I needed to make a choice. Vaulting is a marginal sport. You can put a lot of money into it, but you don’t earn anything from it. It was no longer working for me as a hobby. I don’t do things by halves.
Back then, you couldn’t have known that handstand artistry would be any more lucrative…
That’s true. In the early years, I just had to grin and bear it and do jobs on the side. I’d deliver newspapers, hand out flyers…
You must have been very sure of your talent as an acrobat…
People think I was born hypermobile, but I wasn’t. I’ve just always been very ambitious. The fact that my anatomy is suited to all these contortions is down to hard training. I train six-to-10 hours a day, every day, and have done for eight years. No exceptions, even on holiday.
What advice would you give to others who want to follow their passion?
Persevere and don’t give up, even when things look bad. Give everything and live for the thing you love.
So, when do you give your body and mind time off?
When I sleep.
"When I was a kid, I used to dangle from branches or anything up high."
© Rick Guest
But isn’t recovery time essential?
My body recovers quickly and is very forgiving, which is very special. It’s like a miracle, how quickly my body recovers. Scientific tests have shown that it takes much longer for most other people.
In January 2019, you broke the scaphoid bone in your right wrist...
Which is pretty much the worst that can happen to a handstand artist! But I have a very strong mindset, I push myself very hard. I was able to push beyond my limits; doing the seemingly impossible is what makes me unique. I can switch off the pain.
How is your hand now?
For six months, I could only do handstand training in a relieving posture – on my fist – and there’s still chronic pain. But hey. At the time, the doctors had said I’d never do a handstand again. Only five days later I was performing again.
I define myself as an artiste and extreme sportswoman. As such, I constantly challenge myself, and part of that for me is extreme kicks.
Most of your stunts take place at extreme heights and/or sheer drops. Why so risky?
I define myself as an artiste and extreme sportswoman. As such, I constantly challenge myself, and part of that for me is extreme kicks. The worst thing for my job is routine or habit – it doesn’t get you anywhere, and it makes you incautious. The first second of a stunt is where you have to have the greatest reverence for what you do. If I then – completely high on adrenalin – repeat it too often, I risk losing the sense of danger. As for my stunts, don’t try them yourself – I’ve practised them for years.
"My ambition slips into stubbornness quite often – that’s my big weakness."
© Rick Guest
As a rule, you perform unsecured. Why is that?
Because it’s the only way I want to experience this feeling, this specific feeling of freedom. In these situations, you’re in your own world, extremely focused. Your senses are totally sharp. You know you can’t make a mistake.
But what about when something doesn’t go the way you want it to?
If circumstances beyond my control get in the way, I can live with that and forget about it. But if a stunt fails because of my ability, I’ll persevere until I get it right. My ambition often slips into stubbornness – that’s my big weakness. I don’t want to accept that you can’t access the highest level of performance every day. Then I get angry because I can’t go flat out, and then I’m angry because I’m angry. It’s a total block. I definitely have to work on that.
Are you a bad loser?
I don’t begrudge others success. Back when I did vaulting, winning was important, but not any more. As an artist, it’s not about winning, it’s about finding myself, maintaining my own style. Art is not about competition, it’s about creating something special. Having said that, of course I want to improve. Aiming deliberately high is what motivates me. Winning an Olympic medal used to be my goal. It was my dream, even though vaulting isn’t an Olympic discipline. Achieving a world record used to be on my bucket list, too.
You set an unofficial record in July this year: 342 handstands in 52 minutes without your feet touching the ground. Congratulations!
I trained for that for many years. Guinness World Records kept turning me down, so I decided to film it for myself under regular competition conditions and then upload the video. Then the Record Holders Republic [an alternative register of exceptional feats] approached me and recognised the record.
Where does that absolute belief in yourself come from?
I don’t compare myself to others – that only distracts you from the path you want to take, or brings you down. I focus on what I’ve achieved and what I still want to achieve. If I’ve put my mind to it, I do everything in my power to achieve it.
Does your family support the extraordinary path you’ve taken?
Many family members still say I should learn to do something respectable. My mum is the only one who has supported me from the outset. She is the best – she has always understood how hard I am working on myself. And she has always let me be the person I’ve wanted to be.
Millinger hanging at our photoshoot
© Rick Guest
Does anything unsettle you?
I would be lying if I said that criticism doesn’t affect me. It’s hard when people I don’t know insult me just because they don’t like me or my art. I get strength from people who believe in me and support me, like from my mother and my friends. But getting hate on social media is what really unsettles me.
How do you deal with it?
I have considered deleting my social media accounts. But then I’m happy to have 400,000 followers, and it really is amazing when someone like the American comedian Joe Rogan posts on Twitter that my account is one of the most inspiring out there. The very best moments are the ones in which I achieve something really special, though; moments in which I am fully myself. In those seconds, the only thing that matters is that I’ve mastered something and that I’m aware of it, regardless of whether or not someone else has seen it.
