Kimmy Repond Makes Olympic Cut After Comeback; Swiss Duo Advance to Free Skate
kimmy repond secured a place in the Olympic free skate after posting 59. 20 in the women's short program, a milestone moment that follows a long recovery from foot trouble and an eight-month competitive hiatus. Repond and teammate Livia Kaiser will both skate in Thursday's free skate (ET), marking the first time two Swiss women have reached the Olympic ladies' singles free skate since 1984.
kimmy repond’s return: score, context and recovery
The 19-year-old from Basel delivered a solid short program worth 59. 20, only marginally below her January European short program score of 59. 28. That placement put her 21st after the short segment and guaranteed a spot among the top 24 advancing to the free skate on Thursday (ET). Her current Olympic short-program mark remains some distance from her personal best of 68. 68 set at last year’s European Championships, a gap that underlines both the progress made and the work remaining as she chases a top-10 finish in Milan-Cortina.
Repond’s road to the Games was interrupted by prolonged foot problems that kept her off the ice for months and required careful diagnosis and rehabilitation. She made her comeback at the European Championships in January after an eight-month break, finishing seventh in that first return outing. Now healthy and pain-free, she has framed realistic objectives for the Olympics: two clean programs and a chance at climbing into the top 10 if she can deliver under pressure.
Swiss duo advance amid setbacks; short program roundup
Livia Kaiser joined Repond in advancing after a short program that featured a fall and attendant points deductions. The 21-year-old from Thurgau scored 55. 69 and sat 23rd after the short, just inside the cut for the free skate. Kaiser’s performance fell well short of her best short-program tally of 66. 31 from the 2024 European Championships, but it was enough to keep her Olympic campaign alive.
The result completes a notable Swiss double: two women in the Olympic singles free skate for the first time since Sandra Cariboni and Myriam Oberwiler skated in 1984. Both skaters arrived at the Games having overcome significant interruptions—Repond with prolonged foot pain and Kaiser recovering from a training collision that left her with a cut calf—so advancing to the free skate is itself a substantive achievement.
Tokyo-era favorites and other contenders set a higher benchmark in the short program. Seventeen-year-old Ami Nakai leads after the short with 78. 71, followed by Kaori Sakamoto at 77. 23 and American Alysa Liu at 76. 59. Those scores frame the uphill challenge for Repond and Kaiser, who will need marked improvements in the free skate if they are to move up the leaderboard on Thursday (ET).
What to watch in the free skate
Both Swiss skaters have signaled different approaches in the lead-up to the free skate. Repond returned to Basel for a final week of training after the opening ceremony, prioritizing comfort and targeted run-throughs to protect her foot while sharpening elements. Kaiser remained in the Olympic village to continue fine-tuning and to bank practice time on competition ice.
For Repond, the technical and psychological focus will be on cleaning up under-rotation calls and delivering two composed programs that capitalize on her rehabilitation gains. For Kaiser, the priority is execution: minimizing mistakes, avoiding falls, and reclaiming the consistency that produced higher scores at European events last season. Both will take the ice on Thursday (ET) with clear objectives—Repond aiming for a top-10 finish with two clean outings, Kaiser aiming to translate steady training into a composed free skate.
Advancing from the short program gives both skaters a renewed platform to convert resilience into results on the sport’s biggest stage, and their performances on Thursday (ET) will determine whether this season’s comeback stories become Olympic highlights.
