The U21 Team World Championships changed its format to follow the seniors Speedway of Nations model when seven nations met in Bydgoszcz last night.
The whole event is still available to watch free of charge online at the official stream, TVP Sport (commentary in Polish).
1. Poland
However, the result was a familiar one - Poland in first place. Jakub Miskowiak and Wiktor Lampart provided a demonstration of how it should be done - not just riding faster than everyone else, but closer to each other, reading the track better and being more aware of each than other than any of the other 18 competitors in the depot.
The only time they looked unlikely to take the maximum available 7 points was in the final. At one point Denmark's Mads Hansen and Marcus Birkemose had the gold in their hands, only to be denied by the Polish duo's counterattack as the heat finished 6-3 to the reigning champions.
2. Denmark
For Denmark they had to be content with a silver medal, lead out by Hansen with 17+1. After a quiet season in 2021, it was also good to see Birkemose back on the track and grinning wildly every time the camera was on him in the depot. He took home 11+1 in just four races.
The most worrying site of the evening, however, was when Tim Sørensen was taken from the venue in an ambulance after a heavy crash coming into turn 3 in the all Scandinavian heat 16. Shockingly, Team Sweden finished the competition in a disappointing last place having only beaten one of their rivals, the Czech Republic.
Suspected concussion means the Dane will now miss the SGP at Vojens today. However, it will not affect his club racing as neither his Polish or Danish team are in the playoffs in their leagues.
3. Great Britian
Discovery of the night was British 20 year old, Tom Brennan who had a fantastic evening scoring 20 pts and surely earning himself a contract in Poland for the 2022 season. Brennan won every heat he was in - except those against the two teams who medalled above them in the competition.
Great Britian came to the event as an unknown package to their continental rivals. That's partly because they had been prevented from travelling to the Individual World Championships in 2020 and 2021 due to their own country's strict coronavirus measures. (This was also the reason no Americans have appeared in the competition in 2021 as their juniors are also based in the UK). However, the Brits will not be underestimated again as the trio of Brennan, Drew Kemp and Leon Flint took a Bronze medal for the second year in a row in this event.
Outside of the medals it was Rawicz's Keynan Rew (17) who impressed for the fourth placed Australians and Latvia's Francis Gusts (15), who won three of his four heats before a crash in Heat 15 dented his performance. Whilst only 18 yrs, it would not be a surprise to see Gusts leave Daugavpils and appear on an Ekstraliga roster in 2022.
Many of these riders will be in action again in two weeks time when the Individual Junior World Championship resumes in Krosno on 22 September.
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Individual scores are available from the official U21 World Championship website.
A heat-by-heat score can be found at Zuzelend.
(Photo shows Polish rider, Patryk Dudek, who is three times U21 Team World Champion).
