Young swimming talents shine in Gronau: medal rain at the competition!

Young swimming talents shine in Gronau: medal rain at the competition!

On March 16, 2025, the 34th Bambino swimming competition took place in Gronau, in which the swimming association in 1924 Bottrop took part with a talented and young team. The results of the competition speak for themselves: the Bottrop swimmers won a total of 20 gold, 17 silver and 8 bronze medals. An outstanding athlete was Robert Ruf of the 2012 vintage, who celebrated a four -time victory on the sprint paths in an impressive manner. He achieved gold medals over 50 meters of butterfly (0: 34.79), breast (0: 40.13), back (0: 36.68) and freestyle (0: 29.72) and thus demonstrated its versatility and speed.

But not only Robert Ruf stabbed. His brother Rafael Ruf, born in 2015, also won three gold in the disciplines in the disciplines of 25 meters butterfly (0: 19.50), breast (0: 23.00) and freestyle (0: 17.60) and also secured silver over 25 meters back (0: 23.47). Her brother Albert Ruf (born 2014) also showed a strong performance and won gold over 50 meters butterfly (0: 51.57), breast (0: 49.02), back (0: 49.20) and bronze over 50 meters freestyle (0: 42.33).

success of the girls

The Bottrop female swimmers also shone with outstanding achievements. Lucy Schulz (born 2017) was three times the year winner and secured gold medals over 25 meters butterfly (0: 21.92), back (0: 27.06) and breast (0: 20.38). Her sister Lexy Schulz (born 2019) dominated the 25 meter freestyle (0: 26.69) and back (0: 31.37) and also won silver over 25 meters of chest (0: 42.31). Lilly Schulz (born 2015) was able to record gold over 25 meters of chest (0: 24.42) and bronze over 25 meters butterfly (0: 22.25) and freestyle (0: 20.62).

However, the services also extended to other talents such as Nila Szczygielski (Jg. 2010), which won four times silver in the disciplines 50 meters butterfly (0: 36.16), breast (0: 41.80), back (0: 38.60) and freestyle (0: 31.37). Other medalists are Milena Liuni (born 2017) with gold over 25 meters breast (0: 25.63) and bronze over 25 meters back (0: 28.35) and Lavinia Ortz (born 2018) with gold over 25 meters freestyle (0: 20.00).

relay and team rating

The relay competitions of the Swimming Association 1924 Bottrop rounded off the success. The girls secured gold over 4x 25 meters freestyle with the team from Lilly Schulz, Hannah Böke, Lucy Schulz and Helena Kortz. The boys also won gold, with Milan Schramm, Joshua Kirsch, Rafael Ruf and Frederick Ortz in the 4x 25 meter freestyle relay. The girls' team also convinced with silver over 4x 25 meters of chest.

In the 2009-2014 year rating, Nila Szczygielski, Lilia Miosccka, Lina Böke and Elena Langer were three times silver. The swimming association was also honored for their team performance with gold in the team classification. This success is a shining example of the excellent youth work and the commitment of the association.

swimming is becoming increasingly popular in Germany. According to a study by Statista, around 69.67 million people in Germany were familiar with swimming in Germany. Swimming is particularly popular among young people, with almost every second of the under 30s regularly go into the water regularly. Despite the positive developments, the problem of swimming ability in children remains acute. 20% of primary school children cannot swim what the DLRG gets. It calls for reinforcement of swimming training in schools because it has dropped sharply in recent years.

The excellent performance of the Swimming Association 1924 Bottrop in the recent competition underline the importance of early promotion of swimming sports, especially in view of the current challenges in the field of swimming ability and bathing accidents. The success and the fun the children had in the competition are not only an incentive for the club, but also a positive signal for the entire swimming community in Germany.