It is a Wednesday morning in autumn. Early morning. Just after 6am, to be precise. Outside, it is still dark. As I open the door to the St. Jakob-Arena, I hear music. The ice rink is brightly lit; you can hear the scraping of blades on the ice. Kimmy Repond is jogging in the corridors, wearing black leggings, a black hoodie, black trainers, AirPods in her ears. Her younger sister Caline is warming up too. Together they hop up and down the stairs to the stands on one leg, stretch, and jump Axel, Flip, Lutz on the concrete floor. And again. Bad take-off, again, posture! Again, again.
Mum Claudia is there too. She drives Caline to school after the morning training session. Usually, her older sister Jérômie is there as well – she normally coaches Kimmy, but is currently away. Sister Sidonie is a sports psychologist and provides Kimmy with mental support. A family business that demands meticulous planning and organisation. Kimmy is 19 years old, finished her matura two years ago, and is now focusing entirely on her career in elite sport. At 6.45am, it’s off to the changing rooms. Kimmy ties her hair into a bun, checks the news on her mobile, and fetches her skates from the locker, whose door is plastered with photos – memories of past competitions.
From zero to a hundred at 6am
Kimmy is actually injured. She’s been struggling with pain in her left foot for weeks – no one knows exactly what’s wrong. But training goes on regardless. Foam insoles help to ease the pain a little. Anyone who’s ever squeezed their feet into figure skates knows: They’re hardly what you’d call comfortable. “I can manage two hours, after that I get pressure marks and cold feet,” says Kimmy, yawning. She’s not a morning person. “Sometimes I go back to bed after the morning training session.” She wraps her left boot in tape to stabilise a broken section. The new boots are ready and waiting – but the old ones are more comfortable.
Although getting up early is an ordeal, Kimmy is glad to be able to get out on the ice: “Training conditions are brilliant in the early hours, there are only a few skaters here at this time. The more people training at the same time, the more dangerous it gets.” It’s 7am sharp. There’s a chilly 17 degrees on the rink. Kimmy steps onto the polished ice surface in leggings and a tight-fitting, thin top. Her coach today is David Vincour, a former Czech figure skater. Kimmy has qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. She wants to win a medal there. She had already rehearsed her short programme and free skate with her choreographer David Wilson in Toronto in the spring of 2025.
Kimmy and Caline are not alone on the ice. From 7 to 8am, all three of the city’s figure skating clubs train their best young talents at the Joggeli. Every day. Around 10 boys and girls skate their laps, spin pirouettes, practise jumps, fall, get back up and try again. Various coaches shout their instructions onto the ice. The tone isn’t always friendly. Meanwhile, Kimmy jokes with her coach David. At 19, she is by far the oldest skater on the ice. “My teammates all stopped at 15 or 16,” she says. Today, she looks after the younger ones like a big sister and, as Switzerland’s top figure skater, is in a league of her own. She used to experience envy during training too. “To be honest, I never quite understood it – there are always people who are better,” she says pragmatically. “I think envy in sport is unnecessary.”
Weightlessness – a feat of strength
7.30am, Kimmy has rosy cheeks. What looks effortless is anything but. Her heart rate monitor shows a reading of 180, her legs ache. Although she trains every day, even though her body is a high-performance machine – training on the ice demands everything from her. After five weeks during which Kimmy could only train very lightly due to her injured foot, her body is no longer used to the strain. “I did go to the gym twice a day and worked on my strength and fitness, but training on the ice is much more intense.”
Even as a little girl, Kimmy was often at the ice rink watching her two older sisters train. At first from the restaurant, but later she wanted to get out onto the ice herself. “My mum insisted, however, that I try other sports as well. I did artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and swimming. But nothing appealed to me as much as figure skating. No two sessions are the same. I learn the programmes, go to the gym for strength and fitness, practise jumps and pirouettes – figure skating is very complex, so it never gets boring and training is simply fun.”
It’s incredible what Kimmy’s petite frame is capable of. That enormous strength to achieve the necessary height on take-off and catch her body again after the jump. The technique and precision required to spin multiple times in the air around her own axis and land back on one foot – on her injured left foot, no less. As Kimmy’s body glides harmoniously across the ice, twirling and flying, it becomes art. It becomes weightless, her dance appears to be effortless – yet it is anything but. Kimmy’s body and mind are constantly pushed to their limits. But Kimmy is certain: “It’s all about pushing past those limits. It’s amazing what you’re capable of when you think you can’t go on any longer.”
Determination, focus and a love of the sport
And then there’s the nerves before the competition. “The ten minutes before I step onto the ice are the worst,” says Kimmy. “Having my sister by my side then helps me enormously. I’m so grateful for everything she does for me. Without her, I’d never be at the level I’m at today. My work with a mental coach and psychologists also helps me to focus and keep my thoughts in check, not to overthink. Ultimately, during those minutes on the ice, I don’t think about anything. I just do it.” And she does it well. Very well. She has already been Swiss champion seven times. At the 2024 World Championships, she finished fifth and even qualified for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan.
It is now 8am, and it is light outside. Whilst most people are driving to work or school, Kimmy is finishing her first training session of the day. More training sessions will follow – even if her left foot is hurting. She dedicates four to five hours a day to her body. On top of that, there’s physio and cryotherapy. Four days a week, she also trains her younger sister Caline. You can get a glimpse of her daily life on her Instagram channel. Just under 280,000 people follow her as she shares insights into her training sessions, promotional work and competitions. Standing at 1.77 metres tall, she is increasingly being booked as a model. “I grew a lot two or three years ago. It was a big deal back then because people said it would be a disadvantage on the ice. But honestly? I don’t notice my height. I feel exactly the same on the ice as I used to. And I’m by far the tallest.” It’s around 9am when Kimmy poses for a few more photos. She has to suppress a yawn for a moment, but even sitting on the concrete steps, she looks graceful and elegant.
