Speedway of Nations 2022 – When is it? How to watch, who is competing as Great Britain look to defend crown

The FIM Speedway of Nations is back for 2022.

There is huge anticipation across the world for the national team Speedway event in which 15 countries battle it out over three race nights to determine the Speedway of Nations champions.

This year, for the first time, both semi-finals and the final will take place at the same venue over consecutive nights of racing.

The event will also include the under-21 Speedway of Nations 2 event.

When is it?

FIM Speedway of Nations 2022 opens on Wednesday 27 July with the final on Saturday July 29.

Where is it?

The event takes place at the 15,000 capacity Vojens Speedway Centre in Vojens, Denmark.

How to watch?

Who is competing?

Great Britain will arrive in Demark as champions following victory at home in Belle Vue in 2021. They will defend their crown against 14 other teams, including hosts Denmark, as well as Poland, who will be led by current Speedway Grand Prix championship leader Bartosz Zmarzlik.

Three-time former winners Russia will be absent from this year’s event after being banned by FIM due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Full line up:

Denmark, Great Britain, Poland, Australia, France, Latvia, Sweden, USA, Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovenia, Italy.

Schedule

In the past, the Speedway of Nations has consisted of just a single final or semi-finals in different locations weeks prior to the main race.

This year, for the first time, the entire competition takes place across consecutive nights at the same location.

Semi-final 1: Wednesday 27 July – Poland, Latvia, Australia, Germany, USA, Finland, Ukraine.

Semi-final 2: Thursday 28 July – Great Britain, Sweden, France, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Slovakia.

Final: Saturday 30 July – Denmark, plus top three from each semi-final.

Format

Seven nations will compete in each semi-final, each one taking on another across a total of 21 heats.

Each heat will feature two nations going head-to-head with two riders from each team allocated to either gates one and three or two and four.

Scoring will see first place take four points, second place three points, third place two and zero points for last place.

Failure to finish or being disqualified will also result in no points.

The two countries with the most points at the end of the 21 semi-final heats in each qualify for the final.

The third and fourth place teams then go into a final qualifier to determine who else goes into the final.

The three teams from each semi-final then progress to the final where they are joined by hosts Denmark.

Again after 21 heats, the highest scoring nation advances to the Grand Final where they will be joined by either the second or third place side – who face off in a Grand Final qualifier – to determine this year’s world champions.

Previous winners

• 2018 – Russia
• 2019 – Russia
• 2020 – Russia
• 2021 – Great Britain

FIM Speedway of Nations 2

On Friday 29 July, the FIM Speedway of Nations 2 under-21 event takes place over one day.

Competing will be Denmark, world champions Poland, Great Britain, Australia, Latvia, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

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