François Pache

François Pache grew up in Lausanne where his parents were active patrons and members of the Club des Patineurs de Lausanne. He began skating at a young age alongside his older brother Henri (1930–2018) in local rinks around Caux, Sainte-Catherine and Sauvabelin. He began to train at a rink in Montchoisi alongside his brother in the early 1940s; they won their first junior pairs titles in 1946 (Henri) and 1947 (François). He continued in his success by winning the junior men’s title in 1948, and then the national men’s title in 1951 and 1952.

Pache was selected as a member of the Swiss figure skating delegation to the 1952 Oslo Olympic Games, placing ninth in the singles event. The top Swiss male singles figure skater of the 1950s, he won the Swiss men’s title in 1954, 1956 and 1958, alternating with Hubert Köpfler of Zürich, who won in 1953, 1955 and 1957. He was selected once again to compete at the Olympics at Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956, but unfortunately could not muster a better finish than his first Games, placing 11th.

During his skating career, he competed on three occasions at the Men’s World Championships, with his best result being a 10th place finish (1956), in addition to an 11th place in 1952 and 18th in 1958. He also competed six times at the European Championships, in 1951 (6th place), 1954 (9th place), 1956 (7th place), 1958 (13th place), 1959 (11th place), and 1960 (13th place). During the summers, he was an avid swimmer and competed in backstroke and butterfly competitions. Pache won his final Swiss men’s singles title in 1962, and retired shortly after. He resides in Lausanne.