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The Speedway Under-21 World Championship is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) since 1977.[1][2][3][4][5]
| Sport | motorcycle speedway |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1977 |
| Most recent champion(s) | Wiktor Przyjemski |
| Most titles | 2 titles: Darcy Ward Emil Sayfutdinov Maksym Drabik Mateusz Cierniak |
As of 2022, the title was awarded to the winner of the SGP2 category at the FIM Speedway World Championship.[6]
Between 1977 and 1987 the Championship was the called Individual Speedway Junior European Championship (European Speedway Under 21 Championship), open only to European riders. In 1979, the Championship allowed riders from other continents to compete, but was renamed to the Speedway World Under 21 Championship in 1988.[7] A new competition was named Individual Speedway Junior European Championship was founded by the European Motorcycle Union (UEM) in 1998, only open 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.[8][9] 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 and 2008) was the first ever double world champion. He has since been joined by Darcy Ward (2009 and 2010), Maksym Drabik (2017 and 2019) and Mateusz Cierniak (2022 and 2023).
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The minimum age of a rider to compete is 16 years of age (starting on the date of the rider's birthday). The maximum age is 21 years of age (finishing at the end of the year in which the rider celebrates his 21st birthday).
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)
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) |
Medal winners per nation
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| 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
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