Sweden national speedway team

Summary

The Sweden national speedway team are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway.

Sweden
Nation colourYellow
SWC Wins11
(1952, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2015)

History edit

The Sweden speedway team has won the Speedway World Team Cup and Speedway World Cup on ten occasions and were a major force in the opening years of the tournament, winning four out of the first five, between 1960 and 1964. Key riders of the period were Ove Fundin, Rune Sörmander, Björn Knutson, Göte Nordin and Sören Sjösten.[1][2][3]

The cup eluded them for 23 years between 1971 and 1993, but they regained the trophy in 1994, when Tony Rickardsson, Henrik Gustafsson and Mikael Karlsson were successful.[4] Sweden bookended the original World Team Cup, winning the inaugural final at the Ullevi Stadium at home in Göteborg, in 1960 before winning the last World Team Cup in 2000 at the Brandon Stadium in Coventry, England.[5]

They also went on to win in 2003 and 2004 and 2015. Additionally, they won the defunct Speedway World Pairs Championship five times.[6]

Major tournament wins edit

World Team Championships edit

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Sweden Riders and Pts
1960  
Göteborg
Ullevi
1.   Sweden (44)
2.   England (30)
3.   Czechoslovakia (15)
4.   Poland (7)
Ove Fundin 12
Olle Nygren 12
Rune Sörmander 11
Björn Knutson 9
Göte Nordin -
1962  
Slaný
Slaný Stadium
1.   Sweden (36)
2.   Great Britain (24)
3.   Poland (20)
4.   Czechoslovakia (16)
Björn Knutson 10
Sören Sjösten 10
Ove Fundin 9
Göte Nordin 4
Rune Sörmander 3
1963  
Vienna
Stadion Wien
1.   Sweden (37)
2.   Czechoslovakia (27)
3.   Great Britain (25)
4.   Poland (7)
Bjorn Knutson 11
Per Olof Söderman 10
Ove Fundin 7
Göte Nordin 6
Rune Sörmander 3
1964  
Abensberg
Abensberg Stadion
1.   Sweden (34)
2.   Soviet Union (25)
3.   Great Britain (21)
4.   Poland (16)
Björn Knutson 11
Göte Nordin 10
Rune Sörmander 7
Ove Fundin 6
Sören Sjösten 0
1967  
Malmö
Malmö Stadion
1.   Sweden (32)
2.   Poland (26)
3.   Great Britain (19)
=   Soviet Union (19)
Göte Nordin 11
Bengt Jansson 9
Ove Fundin 6
Torbjörn Harrysson 6
Per Olof Söderman -
1970  
London
Wembley Stadium
1.   Sweden (42)
2.   Great Britain (31)
3.   Poland (20)
4.   Czechoslovakia (3)
Ove Fundin 11
Bengt Jansson 11
Anders Michanek 10
Sören Sjösten 10
Bernt Persson -
1994  
Brokstedt
Holsteinring Brokstedt
1.   Sweden (23)
2.   Poland (20)
3.   Denmark (17)
4.   Australia (17)
5.   USA (17)
6.   Germany (16)
=   England (16)
Tony Rickardsson 12+2
Henrik Gustafsson 11+2
Mikael Karlsson -
2000  
Coventry
Brandon Stadium
1.   Sweden (40)
2.   England (40)
3.   USA (35)
4.   Australia (29)
Tony Rickardsson 16
Henrik Gustafsson 12+2
Peter Karlsson 10+1
Mikael Karlsson 2
Niklas Klingberg 0
2003  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   Sweden (62)
2.   Australia (57)
3.   Denmark (53)
4.   Poland (49)
5.   Great Britain (44)
Mikael Max 19+2
Andreas Jonsson 12
Peter Karlsson 10
Peter Ljung 10
David Ruud 5
2004  
Poole
Poole Stadium
1.   Sweden (49)
2.   Great Britain (48)
3.   Denmark (32)
4.   Poland (23)
Peter Karlsson 12
Tony Rickardsson 12
Antonio Lindbäck 9
Mikael Max 9
Andreas Jonsson 7
2015  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   Sweden (34)
2.   Denmark (32)
3.   Poland (27)
4.   Australia (26)
Andreas Jonsson 12
Freddie Lindgren 11
Antonio Lindbäck 7
Linus Sundström 4

Titles edit

Preceded by
Inaugural Champions
World Champions
1960 (1st title)
Succeeded by
  Poland
Preceded by
  Poland
World Champions
1962 (2nd title)
1963 (3rd title)
1964 (4th title)
Succeeded by
  Poland
Preceded by
  Poland
World Champions
1967 (5th title)
Succeeded by
  Great Britain
Preceded by
  Poland
World Champions
1970 (6th title)
Succeeded by
  Great Britain
Preceded by
  United States
World Champions
1994 (7th title)
Succeeded by
  Denmark
Preceded by
  Australia
World Champions
2000 (8th title)
Succeeded by
  Australia
Preceded by
  Australia
World Champions
2003 (9th title)
2004 (10th title)
Succeeded by
  Poland
Preceded by
  Denmark
World Champions
2015 (11th title)
Succeeded by
  Poland

World Pairs Championship edit

Year Riders
1968 Ove Fundin & Torbjörn Harrysson
1973 Anders Michanek & Tommy Jansson
1974 Anders Michanek & Sören Sjösten
1975 Anders Michanek & Tommy Jansson
1993 Tony Rickardsson, Per Jonsson & Henrik Gustafsson

International caps (as of 2022) edit

Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.[7]

Rider Caps
Andersson, Åke 7
Andersson, Bengt Olof 2
Andersson, Björn 10
Andersson, Daniel 1
Andersson, Jan 39
Andersson, Stefan 6
Bengtsson, Lennart 5
Bergqvist, Tommy 2
Blixt, Mikael 18
Brannefors, Bengt 20
Brannefors, Pierre 14
Carlsson, Arne 17
Danielsson, Hasse 15
Dannö, Roland 10
Dannö, Stefan 5
Davidsson, Jan-Olov 9
Davidsson, Jonas 14
Enecrona, Leif 16
Eriksson, Anders 8
Eriksson, Freddie 1
Forsberg, Birger 19
Forsberg, Dan 17
Fundin, Ove 99
Gerhardsson, Per Ake 1
Gustafsson, Henka 50
Harrysson, Torbjörn 26
Hellsen, Richard 22
Henriksson, Terje 3
Holmqvist, Hasse 30
Hultberg, Lars-Inge 1
Hultgren, Jurgen Per Gunnar 2
Ivarsson, Conny 40
Jansson, Bengt 107
Jansson, Lars 8
Jansson, Tommy 52
Johansson, Jorgen 12
Johansson, Tommy 32
Johansson, Lillebror 5
Johansson, Stefan 3
Johansson, Uno Ingemar 3
Jonasson, Thomas 4
Jonsson, Alfe Folke 10
Jonsson, Andreas 26
Jonsson, Per 65
Josefsson, Bo 13
Karlsson, Magnus 1
Karlsson, Niklas 4
Karlsson, Peter 40
Karlsson, Sören 29
Karlsson, Sune 7
Klingberg, Börje 5
Klingberg, Niklas 11
Knutson, Björn 42
Larsson, Bengt 26
Larsson, Leif 14
Lindbäck, Antonio 17
Lindgren, Freddie 19
Ljung, Peter 6
Löfqvist, Christer 42
Löfqvist, Dennis 7
Malmqvist, Gunnar 13
Max, Mikael 21
Michanek, Anders 101
Nahlin, Peter 32
Nermark, Daniel 5
Nilsen, Jimmy 53
Nilsson, Tommy 65
Nordin, Göte 45
Nygren, Olle 90
Nystrom, Kenneth 6
Olsson, Tony 26
Persson, Bernt 102
Pettersson, Tommy 7
Rickardsson, Tony 43
Ringstrom, Nils 4
Rohlén, Christer 2
Ruud, David 6
Salomonsson, Stefan 5
Samuelsson, Conny 9
Segerstrom, Olle 2
Simensen, Jan 25
Sjösten, Christer 8
Sjösten, Sören 76
Smith, Peter 1
Soderberg, Leif 1
Söderman, Peo 44
Sörmander, Rune 66
Stenlung, Erik 25
Svensson, Per Tage 14
Teurnberg, Mikael 9
Wahlmann, Leif 2
Wedin, Runo 1
Wirebrand, Bo 16
Zetterström, Magnus 3

References edit

  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 134. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ^ "1994 WORLD TEAM CUP". International Speedway. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  5. ^ "FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP/ SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS" (PDF). Motor Sport Top 20. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  6. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  7. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 6 October 2023.