Speedway Under-21 World Championship
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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.
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)
World Championship (since 1988)
One-day final (1988–2009)
Final series (since 2010–2021)
SGP2 (2022–)
| Year | Venue | Winners | Runner-up | 3rd place |
| 2022 | three events | Poland Mateusz Cierniak (56 pts) | Czech Republic Jan Kvěch (39 pts) | Poland Jakub Miśkowiak (38 pts) |
| 2023 | three events | Poland Mateusz Cierniak (49 pts) | Poland Damian Ratajczak (45 pts) | Poland Bartłomiej Kowalski (42 pts) |
| 2024 | three events | Poland Wiktor Przyjemski (56 pts) | Ukraine Nazar Parnitskyi (46 pts) | Norway Mathias Pollestad (43 pts) |
| 2025 | three events | Ukraine Nazar Parnitskyi (52 pts) | Poland Wiktor Przyjemski (42 pts) | Denmark Mikkel Andersen (36 pts) |
Statistics
Medal winners per nation
| Pos | National Team | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Poland | 18 | 16 | 10 | 44 |
| 2. | Australia | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 3. | Denmark | 7 | 4 | 10 | 21 |
| 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. | Ukraine | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10. | New Zealand | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11. | Norway | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 12. | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 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