Catherine Debrunner

Catherine Debrunner (born 11 April 1995) is a Swiss athlete and teacher. She has competed for Team Switzerland at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships where she won a gold and a silver medal. Individually, she won the 2024 London Marathon and set new course records at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, the 2023 Chicago Marathon, and the 2023 New York City Marathon.

Early life
Debrunner was born on 11 April 1995 in Mettendorf, Switzerland. Due to a birth defect in her spine, she uses a wheelchair. While attending a sports camp in Nottwil, she met her future trainer and coach Paul Odermatt.

Career
Debrunner competed in the T53 200 metres at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, where she earned a silver medal with a time of 30.64. She qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, where she finished seventh in the Women's 400 metres. Debrunner subsequently took a break from sports to focus on her education before returning to Team Switzerland for the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. In Dubai, she earned a gold medal in the Women's 400m T53 and a silver medal in the women's 800m T53 race.

At the 2022 Berlin Marathon, Debrunner, competing in her first marathon won the race with a time of 1:36:47, breaking five-time winner Manuela Schär's streak of five Berlin Marathon wins. In May 2023, Debrunner was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. Later that year, Debrunner set another world record at the 2023 Berlin Marathon with a time of 1:34:16 and made her U.S. race debut in the 2023 Chicago Marathon in October. During the Chicago marathon, Debrunner set a new course record with a time of 1:38:44. She also won the 2023 New York City Marathon, setting a course record with a time of 1:39:32, and the 2024 London Marathon.