Catherine Borghi

A two-time Olympian, Switzerland’s Cathy Borghi skied in seven alpine races over two Olympic Games with a best finish of eighth in the combined event at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. She competed at four World Championships (1997, 2001, 2003, 2007) with a best finish of eighth in the combined at Sestriere, Italy in 1997. Skiing at three World Junior Championships (1993-1995), Borghi won a bronze medal in the giant slalom at Voss, Norway, in 1995.

On the World Cup circuit, Borghi had 203 starts. Her first race was at Park City, USA, in 1994, and last was in the downhill at Crans-Montana in 2008. While she never finished on the World Cup podium, she had four top-five finishes (two fourths, two fifths) and 17 top-10 finishes. Borghi’s first international competition was in a FIS race at Saas-Fee, Switzerland in 1992 where she finished 29th in the giant slalom. In 1993 she was third in the giant slalom at the first edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF). Borghi joined the national team at the age of 15 and enjoyed a career lasting for 14 years.

On January 22, 1999, at Cortina, Italy, Borghi suffered a triple fracture of the left leg. When she was six years old, she dreamed that she was sure she would be Olympic downhill and 5km champion in cross-country skiing, all in the same Olympic Games. When Czech Ester Ledecka achieved her double in snowboarding and the super-G at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, Borghi says she cried because: “She (Ledecka) had fulfilled my dream.”

Borghi was introduced to skiing at 17 months-of-age by her parents Michel and Ruth. The middle child of three, Borghi has an older brother Alexandre and a younger sister Christel who was the 1999 Swiss national figure skating champion and finished 25th at the 1999 European Figure Skating Championships. While she initially wanted to be an interior designer, Borghi started as an apprentice for her father in building design, and along with her brother, went on to run the family construction business in Les Diablerets after her father retired.