Switzerland's Noémie Kolly Announces Retirement

Noémie Kolly, 27, has decided to end her career as an alpine ski racer. The Fribourg native suffered a severe left knee injury during training in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last December and is currently undergoing rehabilitation. Now she has decided to start a new chapter outside of competitive skiing.

"This renewed knee injury was a hard blow," explains the 2019 Junior World Downhill Vice Champion. "Since starting rehab, the recurring pain has led me to intensively question my sporting future. I realized that I can no longer fully commit myself and am no longer willing to make the sacrifices that elite sport requires."

The B-squad athlete achieved three top-15 finishes in the World Cup and twice made the podium in the European Cup. Now Noémie Kolly is looking ahead.

"I will now calmly concentrate on completing my rehabilitation and start a new professional project in the fall. I'm looking forward to beginning this new phase of my life."

Noémie Kolly , born onJanuary 1 , 1998, is a Swiss alpine skier specializing in speed disciplines. She is the 2019 junior world downhill vice-champion.

Her mother, sister and brother all skied competitively, and she herself learned to ski in her second winter at La Berra with her mother.

First FIS race during the 2014-2015 season, first FIS race victory on January 25, 2016. First top 10 in the European Cup in January 2017, first participation in the Junior World Championships in 2017, first podium in the European Cup in December 2017.

She competed in her first World Cup race in Garmisch in January 2019 and obtained her first points thanks to her 29th place. In February 2019 in Val di Fassa she was vice-junior world champion in the downhill behind her compatriot Juliana Suter.

She fell in training during the summer of 2019 and suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament which forced her to withdraw from the 2019-2020 season.

In January 2021, she took 3rd place in the Crans-Montana European Cup downhill won by Jasmine Flury , her second podium at this level. She was presented as the new face of Swiss downhill shortly before obtaining her first top-15 World Cup finish by taking 12th place in the Crans-Montana super G on January 24, 2021, which brought her into a new dimension for some media.

On December 3, 2021, she injured her right forearm at the start of the downhill at Lake Louise which deprived her of the two other races organized in the Canadian resort . She made her return to St-Moritz on December 11, taking 17th place in the Super G , then a week later in Val d'Isère, took 24th place in both the downhill and the Super G .

She entered the top 15 twice in the World Cup in January 2022 with 14th place in the Zauchensee downhill and 15th place in the Garmisch Super G. She was selected for the 2022 Olympic Games but was ultimately not selected for any race. At the end of February 2022, during the Crans-Montana World Cup events , she spoke to the press about her status as the only French-speaking Swiss on her team . On March 23, 2022, she became Swiss combined champion, her first national title. The next day, she took 3rd place in the downhill, behind Delia Durrer and Jasmina Suter .

In November 2022, she injured her back in Zermatt and underwent surgery. She returned in early 2023 while still recovering and ended her season very early.

For the 2023-2024 season, back from injury, she oscillated between the European Cup and the World Cup. In the European Cup she obtained two 6th places in super G at Orcières-Merlette and La Thuile . In the World Cup her best result was a 16th place in the super G of Cortina d'Ampezzo at the end of January 2024.