Para Sport Awards 2025: Catherine Debrunner named best female summer athlete

Swiss wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner won the Best Female Summer Sports Award for the 2025 Para Sport Awards for incredibly successful seasons that included victories at both the Paralympic Games and World Championships.

One of the world’s most successful Para athletes, Debrunner competes in the T53/T54 wheelchair racing class. At the Paris 2024 Paralympics, she dominated with five gold medals (in 400m T53, 800m T53, 1500m T54, 5000m T54, and the marathon T54) and one silver (100m T53). Debrunner also holds several world records across distances from 100m to the marathon.

Beyond the track, the Swiss racer is a major force in road racing, winning marathons in Berlin (2022, 2023, 2024), London (2022, 2024, 2025), Chicago (2023, 2024), Tokyo (2025) and New York (2023), and has multiple World Marathon Majors titles. She was named Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2023 and is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and accomplished wheelchair racers in history.

Debrunner began racing after attending a sports camp as a child and made her international debut in 2008 at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Youth Games. She made her Paralympic debut representing Switzerland at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games but won her first medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (gold in 400m T53 and bronze in 800m T53).

On winning the award, Debrunner said: “Receiving this award is an incredible and unexpected honour. My achievements are the result of years of hard teamwork — so many people have contributed a piece to the puzzle, and that’s something I never take for granted. I see it as a huge privilege to live my passion and hope it inspires young wheelchair athletes to dream big and believe in the impossible."

The 2025 PARA SPORT Awards celebrate those whose efforts have contributed to strengthening the impact of Para sports worldwide. In addition to awards for summer and winter sport athletes, there are categories for coaches and volunteers.

The Best Female Summer Sport Award recognises a female summer athlete for her achievements between 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2025.