Qualifying begins for FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship hopefuls

The battle for the 2026 FIM Speedway Under 21 World Championship (SGP2) gets under way tomorrow when all three of this year’s Qualifying rounds are staged on the same day with races in Pardubice in the Czech Republic, Fjelsted in Denmark and Krško in Slovenia.

Giving riders under twenty-one years of age the opportunity to showcase their skills in the three-round Finals on the same stage as the FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship (SGP) elite, first the sport’s brightest up-and-coming talents must earn their places behind the tapes via the Qualifying rounds.
 
At stake at each Qualifying round are four priceless places at the Finals in Malilla, Sweden, on 10 July, Lodz in Poland on 31 July and Vojens in Denmark on 11 September and with such a potentially career-changing prize on the line, competition will be intense across a total of sixty Heat races with competitors from fifteen nations and three continents all chasing glory.
 
The action starts in Pardubice in the Plochodrážní Stadion Svítkov where defending champion Nazar Parnitskyi from the Ukraine will go head-to-head with 2024 champion Wiktor Przyjemski. While the pair – who ran one-two in last year’s championship – are both expected to put in strong performances, they cannot afford to rest on their laurels with a talent-packed entry all looking to progress to the Finals.

After placing fourth in last season’s SGP2 championship and narrowly missing out on a place in this year’s FIM SGP World Championship Challenge, Czech racer Adam Bubba Bednář is back for another title attempt along with Denmark’s William Drejer who was sixth in 2025, while Australian Mitchell McDiarmid also appeared in last year’s Finals.
 
The Qualifying rounds continue at Fjelsted in Denmark where Polish contenders Antoni Mencel and Kevin Malkiewicz – who both ended last season with top-ten SGP2 rankings – will get their campaigns under way and among other riders aiming to book their places in the Finals is home hopeful Bastian Pedersen, who was thirteenth last season, while American Slater Lightcap is back for the third successive year.
 
A potential top four from the third of this year’s Qualifying rounds in Krško’s Stadion Matija Gubec is too close to call, but Danish racer Villads Nagel and Sammy Van Dyck from Sweden will be looking to build on their appearances in last year’s Finals while Australian Beau Bailey – third in the 2025 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) – continues his mission to climb the Speedway ladder.