Kimmy Repond

Repond was born on 18 October 2006 in Basel, Switzerland, to father René, a management consultant, and mother Claudia, a lawyer.^[1] She has three sisters – Sidonie, Jérômie, and Caline – all of whom have competed in figure skating.^[2] She plans to pursue a career in medicine once she retires from competitive skating.^[3] Repond attended a British school in Switzerland, which she graduated from in 2023, and speaks fluent German and English.^[4]

Repond made her international and ISU Junior Grand Prix debut at the 2021 JGP Slovakia in September, coached by her older sister Jérômie. She finished eighth in both segments to place eighth overall^[5] and did not receive a second assignment. She competed at three more international junior B events in the fall, taking the title at both the 2021 Trophée Métropole Nice^[6] and the 2021 NRW Trophy,^[7] and placing second at the 2021 Santa Claus Cup behind Nina Pinzarrone of Belgium.^[8]

Repond claimed her second Swiss junior national title in late January 2022 by a 27-point margin over second-place finisher Sarina Joos and was later assigned to the Swiss women's berth at the 2022 World Junior Championships. At Junior Worlds, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in April, Repond placed eighth in the short program and seventh in the free skate to finish seventh overall.^[9] She was the highest-finishing European junior woman in the event.^[10]

Repond opened her season in early September at the 2022 JGP Austria, where she placed fourth in the short program. She dropped to sixth in the free skate to finish sixth overall. At her second JGP assignment, the 2022 JGP Poland I, one of two events held in Gdańsk, Repond placed seventh in the short program. However, with a clean skate and a new personal best in the free program, she climbed in the standings to fourth place in the segment and fourth overall, her best finish at a JGP event to date.^[11]

In October, Repond competed at her first senior international event, the 2022 CS Budapest Trophy. She won the short program with a new personal best score but fell to third place in the free skate to ultimately finish second overall between American gold medalist Ava Marie Ziegler and Estonian bronze medalist Niina Petrõkina. Notably, Repond led domestic rival Alexia Paganini by over six points after the short program, but Paganini later withdrew before the free.^[11]

Repond competed at a second Challenger Series assignment, the 2022 CS Ice Challenge held in Graz, Austria in November. Doctors discovered a partial fracture in her foot days before the competition but she still decided to skate to qualify for the European Championships. She placed ninth in the short program after falling on a planned triple Lutz but rose to second in the free skate to place third overall behind Italian Anna Pezzetta and Canada's Kaiya Ruiter. After the competition, she took a 3-week break to let her foot heal. Due to this, she missed two international competitions.^[12]

Repond competed at her first senior Swiss Figure Skating Championships in mid-December. With reigning national champion Alexia Paganini absent, Repond was heavily favored to win the title. However, she got back on the ice just two weeks before nationals and placed third in the short program and first in the free skate to narrowly finish in second place behind Livia Kaiser.^[13] Repond was later named to the Swiss team for the 2023 European Championships alongside Kaiser.

At the European Championships, held in Espoo in late January, Repond placed third in the short program despite a quarter call on her triple Lutz jump, behind Georgian segment leader Anastasiia Gubanova and pre-event favourite Loena Hendrickx of Belgium.^[14] She noted that having "been dreaming about going" to the European championships, she had "tried not to have any expectations," which mean that "third place is a really big thing for me, and I am really happy."^[15] She was second in the free skate after Hendrickx fell twice, remaining third overall by a margin of only 0.97 points and winning the bronze medal. Her placement marked the first podium finish for a Swiss women's singles skater at the European Championships since Sarah Meier won the title in 2011.^[16][17]

Repond was next assigned to the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, where she aimed to finish in the top eight and thereby qualify a Swiss berth at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.^[4] Tenth in the short program with underrotation calls on her jumps, she rallied in the free skate and rose to seventh overall.^[18] Repond ultimately finished eighth at her first senior World Championships.^[19]

Repond began her her second senior season at the 2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophy in September. She placed third in the short program despite a fall on her solo triple lutz, and later rose to first in the free skate to finish second overall behind Isabeau Levito.^[11] Following this, she was invited to participate in the 2023 Japan Open as part of Team Europe. She finished fifth of six women in the free skate, while the team won the bronze medal.^[20]

Repond made her Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, held in Angers in early November. She struggled at the event, falling on both her solo triple flip and her triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in the short program, and making another series of jump errors in the free skate, leading to a tenth-place finish overall.^[21] The skater later revealed that she'd been contending with an injury she sustained at the Nebelhorn Trophy in September and that she would not compete at her second Grand Prix assignment, the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, opting to instead take time to heal in anticipation of the championship events in the new year.^[22]

At the 2024 national championships, Repond captured the Swiss title for the first time.^[11] She finished seventh at the 2024 European Championships, and said afterward she felt "a bit disappointed," speculating that she had nerve issues due to limited training time while recovering from her hip problem.^[23]

Repond finished the season at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal. In the short program, she came twelfth in the segment after falling on a triple Lutz jump. She rebounded in the free skate, coming fourth in that segment with a personal best 133.38 point score. This lifted her to fifth overall. Repond expressed enthusiasm at her results, saying: "Finally, I could show what I am capable of. Except for the mistake yesterday, I had a good competition I am really happy with."^[24]

In June, Repond announced that she had relocated to Oberstdorf, Germany to train under Michael Huth while simultaneously continuing to be coached by her sister, Jérômie, in Basel.^[25]

Repond started the season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series, finishing sixth at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy and winning silver at the 2024 CS Budapest Trophy.^[11] Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit, Repond would place third in the short program at 2024 Skate Canada International but fifth in the free skate, falling to fourth place overall. Due to the event being a close competition, Repond finished only 0.30 points behind bronze medalist Hana Yoshida. Following the competition, Repond said she was overall "still really happy with what I did at this competition. And we did two good performances. One was perfect and one was okay. But it was also pretty good. But, you know, I wanted to medal, so I'm a little bit disappointed being third after the short program."^[26]

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix.

ISU personal bests highlighted in bold. Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.

• Kimmy REPOND at the International Skating Union