Zürifisch is a city-wide swimming competition for Zürich kids from 6 to 13 years old. Participation is free and open to any child living in Zurich city.
Get more info at www.zuerifisch.ch
In March each year, there are qualifying rounds held at school and neighborhood pools all over Zurich, as shown on the 2018 map below.
Kids can just show up during the specified time, fill out a form and swim. Kids must swim 50 meters in a specified time corresponding to their birth year. For example, the youngest kids must swim under 1 min 10 seconds. Many of these neighborhood pools are only 20 meters long, so kids have to swim 2.5 laps, which can make them go slower than normal.
If they qualify, they get to swim in the half-finals a few weeks later in the big competition pool in Oerlikon shown above. The top 8 times get to swim in the finals to see who is the fastest swimmer in Zurich.
My son swam in it several years and finished as high as 9th one year, but never made the finals. After about 10 years old, most super fast swimmers are already training a few times a week in swim clubs, so it can be hard to compete against them. But it’s still fun to participate.
They usually get a small participation gift, like a drink and a swim bag.
