Sofia Löfberg Szöges is a young woman trying to make a break in the male dominated world of professional speedway. She will be 18 yrs this summer and, if the coronavirus allows it, will be racing her first season in the 500cc class for Avesta Masarna - the club of Swedish SGP rider, Antonio Lindbäck. She will be starting in their Division 1 team - the third tier of Swedish speedway behind the Elitserien and Allsvenskan.
Last year was her one and only season in the 250cc class where she raced with Rospiggarna on the track that hosted the Norbill Swedish SGP in Hallstavik. "It was great to train and compete for the first time on 250cc," she says, but is already looking ahead to the step up to senior level, "I m looking forward to developing as much as I can and enjoying every heat in 2020".
But as a young rider she is also wanting to take a broad view of what it involved in racing at senior level, "I want to learn about sponsorship in 2020 and how it works," being realistic that advancing in her career also means paying for better equipment so she can compete with the best.
Löfberg Szöges might be young, but she does miss a trick when it comes to learning and growing. When we discuss the Speedway European Championship she reveals, "I always look out for how the different riders race the track - you can learn a lot from just watching".
Last year saw women's speedway take an important leap forward when German, Sindy Weber became the first woman to race in Poland when she participated in Nice 2. Not surprisingly, that is something Löfberg Szöges also wants to do, "I've only raced in Sweden so far, but I'm keen to try any of the other tracks across the world". Not only that but she is already eyeing the biggest prize in speedway, "One of my biggest dreams is to race in a GP," she says. And you can be certain that ultimately she'd like to follow in the footsteps of her favourite rider, 2017 World Champion, Jason Doyle (below), who raced with her home club Rospiggarna between 2016-2019.
Weber has broken the glass ceiling in the speedway world rightfully taking her place as one among equals on the starting grid, something Löfberg Szöges is keen to emulate. There is no doubt that sport should celebrate its unique role of enabling women and men to compete side by side. This will only come about by developing young talent like this Swede so that more women can take their place at the elite level of the sport.
If the example of the two most popular sports in Sweden (football and ice hockey) are anything to go by, this will not happen without a concerted effort from the national board. Now is the time for SVEMO to grasp the opportunity and begin the process which will see Sweden being the first country to have a woman race a GP, perhaps as a wildcard at the Swedish or Scandinavian Grand Prix.
Löfberg Szöges will be happy to oblige and hopefully we will soon see a host of talented women joining the men in competing together in this fantastic sport.
With thanks to Facebook page - Speedway det är grejer det - who published their interview with Sofia Löfberg Szöges on 3 March 2020.
