Honored Athletes: Profiles & Recognition

Neumünster. The list of her medal achievements reads like that of an athlete at the end of his career. Caroline Gangl (11) and Paul Stockfleth (13) are far from being of age. Because of their outstanding performance, the two received a special honor from the Neumünster district sports association at the Sports Ball in the Holstenhallen: “We are choosing the talents of the year 2025 for the first time,” said Ute Freund, chairwoman of the Neumünster district sports association, as the two teenagers were driven into the hall in a car.

Caroline Gangl has won five medals at the international German para-swimming championships, including two golds. Paul Stockfleth won kickboxing at the World Championships in Wales, winning gold in the youth national team and silver in the individual.

However, there were no surprises among the athletes of the year: Para-swimmer and Paralympic champion Tanja Scholz won ahead of Johanna Krumm (canoeist) and Franziska Volkmann (badminton).

Tanja Scholz had already won the favor of citizens’ votes in the past two years. 3983 people took part in the voting. In the men’s category, the handball player from the deaf national team Jörg Tomaschewski, who was also one of the runners-up, won. Second and third place went to Bjarne Geiss (badminton) and Matthias Höppner (functional fitness). Team of the year was Blau Weiß Wittorf (badminton), followed by the Rote Hosen (show acrobatics) and the gymnastics group competition (TGW) of SV Tungendorf.

The fact that admission was moved back an hour to 8 p.m. for the second time paid off again this year. Even though the ranks filled relatively late, many were already there to welcome Ute Freund and Mayor Tobias Bergmann (SPD).

This year the head of administration did not put in any sporting performances like last year. In 2025 he had fallen backwards from a pyramid of acrobats.

But Bergmann explained that in sport it is like in life: “You never get to the top alone. When you are at the top, you don’t have to be afraid of falling, because there are people there to catch you. And if you fall, you have to get up again.” In doing so, he offered room for speculation as to whether this was a reference to his independent candidacy, which he had declared a few days ago and thus made himself unpopular with the SPD.

Neumünster Sports Ball: More visitors than last year

Then the party of around 2,800 people started. That was around 400 more than the previous year. The popular show band Tiffany heated things up. Disc jockey Flo played during the breaks. The new decoration was also well received by the visitors: sports equipment was set up and photos of previous major sporting events in Neumünster were hung on the walls of the Holstenhallen.

KN