# Speedway Under-21 World Championship

The Speedway Under-21 World Championship is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) since 1977.
As of 2022, the title was awarded to the winner of the SGP2 category at the FIM Speedway World Championship.

## History

Between 1977 and 1987 the Championship was called the Individual Speedway Junior European Championship (European Speedway Under 21 Championship), open only to European riders. In 1979, the Championship began allowing riders from other continents to compete, but was renamed to the Speedway World Under 21 Championship in 1988. In 1998, European Motorcycle Union (UEM) established the Individual Speedway Junior European Championship, a new competition open only to European competitors.
Originally it was called the European Under-21 Championship (from 1977-1987) but changed its name in 1988 when it was made open to all nations. To confuse matters a new European Individual Speedway Junior Championship was created in 1998 by the European Motorcycle Union (UEM) but this is not linked to former European Under-21 Championship.
Emil Sayfutdinov (2007, 2008) became the first rider to win the championship twice. Other double champions include Darcy Ward (2009, 2010), Maksym Drabik (2017, 2019), and Mateusz Cierniak (2022,2023).

## Age limits

Riders must be at least 16 years old to compete, starting from their 16th birthday. The maximum age limit is 21, with eligibility ending at the conclusion of the year in which the rider turns 21.

## Past winners
### European Championship (1977-1987)

| Year | Venue | Winners | Runner-up | 3rd place |
| 1977 | Vojens | Alf Busk (9 pts) | Joe Owen (8 pts) | Les Collins (7 pts) |
| 1978 | Lonigo | Finn Rune Jensen (13 pts) | Kevin Jolly (12+3 pts) | Neil Middleditch (12+2 pts) |
| 1979 | Leningrad | Ron Preston (13 pts) | Airat Faizulin (12 pts) | Ari Koponen (11+3 pts) |
| 1980 | Pocking | Tommy Knudsen (14 pts) | Tony Briggs (12 pts) | Dennis Sigalos (11+3 pts) |
| 1981 | Slaný | Shawn Moran (15 pts) | Antonín Kasper Jr. (14 pts) | Jiří Hnidak (13 pts) |
| 1982 | Pocking | Antonín Kasper Jr. (14 pts) | Mark Courtney (12+3 pts) | Peter Ravn (12+2 pts) |
| 1983 | Lonigo | Steve Baker (13 pts) | David Bargh (12 pts) | Marvyn Cox (11 pts) |
| 1984 | King's Lynn | Marvyn Cox (12 pts) | Neil Evitts (11+3 pts) | Steve Lucero (11+2 pts) |
| 1985 | Abensberg | Per Jonsson (15 pts) | Jimmy Nilsen (13 pts) | Ole Hansen (11+3pts) |
| 1986 | Rivne | Igor Marko (13 pts) | Tony Olsson (12 pts) | Brian Karger (11 pts) |
| 1987 | Zielona Góra | Gary Havelock (13 pts) | Piotr Świst (12+3 pts) | Sean Wilson (12+2 pts) |

### World Championship (since 1988)
#### One-day final (1988–2009)

| Year | Venue | Winners | Runner-up | 3rd place |
| 1988 | Slaný | Peter Nahlin (14 pts) | Henrik Gustafsson (11+3 pts) | Brian Karger (11+2 pts) |
| 1989 | Lonigo | Gert Handberg (13+3 pts) | Chris Louis (13+2 pts) | Niklas Karlsson (12 pts) |
| 1990 | Lviv | Chris Louis (14 pts) | Rene Aas (13 pts) | Tony Rickardsson (10+3 pts) |
| 1991 | Coventry | Brian Andersen (14+3 pts) | Morten Andersen (14+2 pts) | Jason Lyons (11 pts) |
| 1992 | Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm | Leigh Adams (14+3 pts) | Mark Loram (14+2 pts) | Joe Screen (13 pts) |
| 1993 | Pardubice | Joe Screen (14+3 pts) | Mikael Karlsson (14+2 pts) | Rune Holta (10+3 pts) |
| 1994 | Elgane | Mikael Karlsson (14+3 pts) | Rune Holta (14+2 pts) | Jason Crump (12+3 pts) |
| 1995 | Tampere | Jason Crump (13+3 pts) | Daniel Andersson (13+F pts) | Ryan Sullivan (12+3 pts) |
| 1996 | Olching | Piotr Protasiewicz (15 pts) | Ryan Sullivan (11+3 pts) | Jesper B. Jensen (11+2 pts) |
| 1997 | Mšeno | Jesper B. Jensen (14 pts) | Rafał Dobrucki (11+3 pts) | Scott Nicholls (11+2 pts) |
| 1998 | Piła | Robert Dados (14+3 pts) | Krzysztof Jabłoński (14+2 pts) | Matej Ferjan (12 pts) |
| 1999 | Vojens | Lee Richardson (13 pts) | Aleš Dryml, Jr. (11 pts) | Nigel Sadler (10+3+2 pts) |
| 2000 | Gorzów Wlkp. | Andreas Jonsson (14 pts) | Krzysztof Cegielski (11+3 pts) | Jarosław Hampel (11+2 pts) |
| 2001 | Peterborough | Dawid Kujawa (12 pts) | Lukáš Dryml (11 pts) | Rafał Okoniewski (10+3 pts) |
| 2002 | Slaný | Lukáš Dryml (14+3 pts) | Krzysztof Kasprzak (14+2 pts) | David Howe (12 pts) |
| 2003 | Kumla | Jarosław Hampel (14 pts) | Chris Harris (13 pts) | Rafał Szombierski (11+3 pts) |
| 2004 | Wrocław | Robert Miśkowiak (12 pts +2 +2) | Kenneth Bjerre (8 pts +3 +2) | Matej Žagar (8 pts +2 +1) |
| 2005 | Wiener Neustadt | Krzysztof Kasprzak (8 pts) | Tomáš Suchánek (8 pts) | Fredrik Lindgren (7 pts) |
| 2006 | Terenzano | Karol Ząbik (13 pts +3) | Antonio Lindbäck (12 pts +2) | Christian Hefenbrock (12 pts +1) |
| 2007 | Ostrów Wlkp. | Emil Sayfutdinov (15 pts) | Chris Holder (14 pts) | Paweł Hlib (12 pts) |
| 2008 | Pardubice | Emil Sayfutdinov (14 pts) | Chris Holder (12+3 pts) | Jurica Pavlic (12+2 pts) |
| 2009 | Goričan | Darcy Ward (13 pts) | Jurica Pavlic (12+3 pts) | Patrick Hougaard (12+2 pts) |

#### Final series (since 2010–2021)

| Year | Venue | Winners | Runner-up | 3rd place |
| 2010 | three events | Darcy Ward (30+3 pts) | Maciej Janowski (30+2 pts) | Maksims Bogdanovs (30+1 pts) |
| 2011 | four events | Maciej Janowski (50 pts) | Darcy Ward (46+3 pts) | Przemysław Pawlicki (46+2 pts) |
| 2012 | seven events | Michael Jepsen Jensen (90 pts) | Maciej Janowski (89 pts) | Mikkel Bech Jensen (75 pts) |
| 2013 | three events | Patryk Dudek (35 pts) | Piotr Pawlicki Jr. (34 pts) | Kacper Gomólski (29 pts) |
| 2014 | three events | Piotr Pawlicki Jr. (42 pts) | Kacper Gomolski (36 pts) | Mikkel Michelsen (33 pts) |
| 2015 | three events | Bartosz Zmarzlik (39 pts) | Anders Thomsen (34 pts) | Mikkel Michelsen (34 pts) |
| 2016 | three events | Max Fricke (46 pts) | Krystian Pieszczek (40 pts) | Robert Lambert (37+3 pts) |
| 2017 | three events | Maksym Drabik (49 pts) | Bartosz Smektała (42 pts) | Max Fricke (41 pts) |
| 2018 | three events | Bartosz Smektała (56 pts) | Maksym Drabik (54 pts) | Robert Lambert (46 pts) |
| 2019 | three events | Maksym Drabik (49 pts) | Bartosz Smektała (45+3 pts) | Dominik Kubera (45+2 pts) |
| 2020 | one event | Jaimon Lidsey (20 pts) | Dominik Kubera (16 pts) | Oļegs Mihailovs (14 pts) |
| 2021 | three events | Jakub Miśkowiak (58 pts) | Mads Hansen (54 pts) | Wiktor Lampart (40 pts) |

#### SGP2 (2022–)

| Year | Venue | Winners | Runner-up | 3rd place |
| 2022 | three events | Mateusz Cierniak (56 pts) | Jan Kvěch (39 pts) | Jakub Miśkowiak (38 pts) |
| 2023 | three events | Mateusz Cierniak (49 pts) | Damian Ratajczak (45 pts) | Bartłomiej Kowalski (42 pts) |
| 2024 | three events | Wiktor Przyjemski (56 pts) | Nazar Parnitskyi (46 pts) | Mathias Pollestad (43 pts) |

## Statistics
### Medal winners per nation

| Pos | National Team | | | | Total |
| 1. | Poland | 18 | 15 | 10 | 43 |
| 2. | Australia | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 3. | Denmark | 7 | 4 | 9 | 20 |
| 4. | Great Britain | 5 | 7 | 9 | 21 |
| 5. | Sweden | 4 | 6 | 3 | 13 |
| 6. | Soviet Union Russia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 7. | Czechoslovakia Czech Republic | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 8. | United States | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 9. | New Zealand | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10. | Norway | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 11. | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12. | Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13. | Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| | Latvia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15. | Finland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| | Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

### World champions

The following World Junior champions went on to win the Speedway World Championship.
* Per Jonsson in 1990
* Gary Havelock in 1992
* Jason Crump in 2004, 2006 and 2009
* Bartosz Zmarzlik in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024