Individual Speedway European Championship

The Individual Speedway European Championship is an annual individual speedway event organized by the European Motorcycle Union (UEM) to determine the champion of Europe. The competition was founded in 2001 and was initially staged as a one-off meeting before the single event was replaced by the Speedway European Championship series in 2012.

Individual Speedway European Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Speedway European Championship
Sportmotorcycle speedway
Founded2001
(previously
European Final 1955-75)
No. of teams16 riders
Most recent
champion(s)
Latvia Andžejs Ļebedevs (2024)

History

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From 1955 to 1975, the European Final was staged as the final qualifying round for the World Speedway Championship, although this did not include British riders who had a separate qualifying round.[1][2]

The European Championships were inaugurated in 2001, organised by European Motorcycle Union (UEM). In 2012 this was replaced by a series of four finals. Regardless of that, ISEC was struggling with prestige and promotion and the best European riders were mostly avoiding this contest.[3]

On 20 December 2012, at a press conference in Warsaw, Poland it was announced that the competition would be replaced by a new series similar in format to the Speedway Grand Prix. The Speedway European Championship series is promoted by One Sporta Ltd. from Poland for next three seasons (2013-2015).[4]

As of 2022, the competition is staged over four rounds in a Grand Prix format, with the winner being the rider who accumulates the most points over the four rounds. The minimum age of a rider to compete is 16 years of age (starting on the date of the rider's birthday).

Denmark is the most successful nation having had seven champions, Jesper B. Jensen (2005), Nicki Pedersen (2016), Leon Madsen (2018 and 2022) and Mikkel Michelsen (2019, 2021 and 2023).

Winners

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European Final (1955-1975)

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Year Venue Winners 2nd place 3rd place
1955   Oslo   Henry Andersen   Olle Nygren   Kjell Carlsson
1956   Oslo   Ove Fundin   Per Olof Söderman   Ole Andersson
1957   Växjö   Rune Sörmander   Per Olof Söderman   Josef Hofmeister
1958   Warsaw   Ove Fundin   Josef Hofmeister   Rune Sörmander
1959   Göteborg   Ove Fundin   Josef Hofmeister   Mieczysław Połukard
1960   Wrocław   Marian Kaiser   Ove Fundin   Stefan Kwoczała
1961   Wieden   Ove Fundin   Björn Knutson   Igor Plekhanov
1962   Oslo   Björn Knutson   Ove Fundin   Göte Nordin
1963   Göteborg   Björn Knutson   Ove Fundin   Per Olof Söderman
1964   Wrocław   Zbigniew Podlecki   Björn Knutson   Boris Samorodov
1965   Slaný   Ove Fundin   Björn Knutson   Antoni Woryna
1966   Wembley   Ivan Mauger   Barry Briggs   Antoni Woryna
1967   Wrocław   Andrzej Wyglenda   Andrzej Pogorzelski   Antoni Woryna
1968   Wrocław   Paweł Waloszek   Antoni Woryna   Jerzy Trzeszkowski
1969   Olching   Valeri Klementiev   Edward Jancarz   Torbjörn Harrysson
1970   Leningrad   Ivan Mauger   Vladimir Gordeev   Gennady Kurilenko
1971   Wembley   Ivan Mauger   Ray Wilson   Ole Olsen
1972   Wrocław   Paweł Waloszek   Ole Olsen   Anders Michanek
1973   Abensberg   Anders Michanek   Ivan Mauger   Vladimir Paznikov
1974   Wembley   Peter Collins   Ole Olsen   Ivan Mauger
1975   Bydgoszcz   Ivan Mauger   Ole Olsen   Phil Crump

Individual European Championship (2001-2011)

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Year Venue Winners 2nd place 3rd place
2001   Heusden Zolder   Bohumil Brhel (14 pts)   Mariusz Staszewski (13 pts)   Krzysztof Cegielski (12+3 pts)
2002   Rybnik   Magnus Zetterström (12+3 pts)   Krzysztof Kasprzak (12+2 pts)   Rafał Szombierski (11+3 pts)
2003   Slaný   Krzysztof Kasprzak (12+3 pts)   Sławomir Drabik (12+2 pts)   Magnus Zetterström (11 pts)
2004   Holsted   Matej Žagar (14+3 pts)   Matej Ferjan (14+2 pts)   Hans N. Andersen (12 pts)
2005   Lonigo   Jesper B. Jensen (14+3 pts)   Aleš Dryml, Jr. (14+2 pts)   Kai Laukkanen (12 pts)
2006   Miskolc   Krzysztof Jabłoński (13+3 pts)   Grzegorz Walasek (13+2 pts)   Christian Hefenbrock (12 pts)
2007   Wiener Neustadt   Jurica Pavlic (14 pts)   Sebastian Ułamek (13 pts)   Patrick Hougaard (11 pts)
2008   Lendava   Matej Žagar (14 pts)   Sebastian Ułamek (10+3+3 pts)   Mads Korneliussen (10+2+2+2)
2009   Tolyatti   Renat Gafurov (13+3 pts)   Andriy Karpov (13+2 pts)   Aleš Dryml, Jr. (13+1 pts)
2010   Tarnów   Sebastian Ułamek (15 pts)   Aleš Dryml, Jr. (12 pts)   Andriy Karpov (11+3 pts)
2011   Rivne   Grigory Laguta (14+3 pts)   Tomasz Gapinski (14+2 pts)   Aleš Dryml, Jr. (12 pts)

European Championship series (since 2012)

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Year Venue Winners Runner-up 3rd place
2012 Four events   Aleš Dryml, Jr. (48 pts)   Robert Miśkowiak (44 pts)   Andriy Karpov (43 pts)
2013 Four events   Martin Vaculik (47 pts)   Nicki Pedersen (44 pts)   Grigory Laguta (42 pts)
2014 Four events   Emil Sayfutdinov (54 pts)   Peter Kildemand (48 pts)   Nicki Pedersen (44 pts)
2015 Four events   Emil Sayfutdinov (58 pts)   Nicki Pedersen (55 pts)   Antonio Lindbäck (51 pts)
2016 Four events   Nicki Pedersen (40 pts)   Václav Milík (38 pts)   Krzysztof Kasprzak (38 pts)
2017 Four events   Andžejs Ļebedevs (52 pts)   Artem Laguta (45 pts)   Václav Milík (44 pts)
2018 Four events   Leon Madsen (56 pts)   Jarosław Hampel (45 pts)   Robert Lambert (41 pts)
2019 Four events   Mikkel Michelsen (45 pts)   Grigory Laguta (45 pts)   Leon Madsen (39 pts)
2020 Five events   Robert Lambert (67 pts)   Leon Madsen (64 pts)   Grigory Laguta (52 pts)
2021 Four events   Mikkel Michelsen (53 pts)   Leon Madsen (51 pts)   Patryk Dudek (46 pts)
2022 Four events   Leon Madsen (53 pts)   Janusz Kołodziej (52 pts)   Mikkel Michelsen (45 pts)
2023 Four events   Mikkel Michelsen (52 pts)   Leon Madsen (44 pts)   Janusz Kołodziej (42 pts)
2024 Four events   Andžejs Ļebedevs (50 pts)   Leon Madsen (47 pts)   Kacper Woryna (44 pts)

Medals classification

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Pos National Team Total      
1.   Denmark 20 7 7 6
2.   Russia 8 4 2 2
3.   Poland 19 3 10 6
4.   Czech Republic 7 2 3 2
5.   Slovenia 3 2 1
6.   Latvia 2 2
7.   Sweden 3 1 2
8.   Great Britain 2 1 1
9.   Croatia 1 1
  Slovakia 1 1
11.   Ukraine 3 1 2
12.   Finland 1 1
  Germany 1 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  2. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 23. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  3. ^ "About SEC". www.speedwayeuro.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-25. Retrieved 23 Feb 2013.
  4. ^ "Żużlowe mistrzostwa Europy wkraczają w nową erę" (in Polish). sportowefakty.pl. 20 Dec 2012. Retrieved 23 Feb 2013.