Unbeaten up-and-coming stars Marek Ziman and Franciszek Szczyrba will lead the field into the Final of the 2026 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) in Wrocław, Poland, this coming Friday (19 June) after the pair both booked their places with maximum scores in two Semi-Finals staged over successive evenings in Pardubice in the Czech Republic.
A major stepping stone for ambitious young riders aged under sixteen years on 250cc machines, the fight for the highly prestigious SGP3 title has always been fierce, but before the stars of the future even got the opportunity to race for the coveted FIM gold medal, first they had to make the cut for the Final via the Semi-Finals where eight places in each were on the line.
The action in the Svítkov Stadium got under way on Tuesday (16 June) evening when Slovakian racer Ziman, who was eleventh in last season’s SGP3 Finals, dominated all five of his Heat races to send his rivals a clear message that twelve months on he is fully focused on this year’s crown.
After Australia’s Cooper Antone, Andzejs Smulkevics from Latvia and Ukrainian Arsenii Mykulchynhad won their opening Heats, Ziman concluded the first block of racing with victory ahead of Denmark’s Elias Jamil Jensen – the 2023 SGP4 champion – who would emerge as his main challenger over the course of the evening.
Victories in block two went to Mykulchyn, Ziman and America’s Brady Landon – the 2024 SGP4 champion – before Jamil Jensen took his first win of the programme to keep himself in contention.
The Dane made it back-to-back wins when he opened the third block ahead of Poland’s Oskar Winczewski and Smulkevics, who was disqualified from his second Heat for a false start, returned to the top with his second victory before Ziman moved into a clear lead when he defeated Mykulchyn.
Landon ended the third block with victory, but was beaten by Ziman in the pair’s fourth Heat and there were also Heat wins for Casper Kluczniak from Great Britain and both Smulkevics and Mykulchyn, but heading into the fifth and deciding block only a disaster could keep Ziman from the top step of the podium and he sewed things up in the last Heat of the evening.
Jamil Jensen made sure of second with his third victory and the leading pair were joined on the podium by Landon who followed the Dane across the line before Kluczniak claimed a consolation win.
Automatically joining the top three in Wrocław were Smulkevics, Mykulchyn and Winczewski with Britain’s Oliver Bovingdon – who kept his hopes alive with a win in his fifth Heat – losing out to Antone and his fellow Australian Nate Smith in a three-rider run-off for the final two places.
The following evening the second Semi-Final got under way with Great Britain’s Archie Rolph opening his account with a victory that was followed by wins for Poland’s Szczyrba, Niklas Bager from Denmark and Dawid Oscenda who would press his compatriot Szczyrba hard for the full programme.
After taking an important win ahead of Bager in his second Heat, Oscenda was joined at the front by Rolph and Szczyrba on an unbeaten six points following two blocks of racing.
Swede Adrian Axelsson got the third block under way with a victory to go with his two second-placed finishes in the opening Heats and Rolph then maintained his unbeaten run before Levi Böhme from Germany bounced back from disqualification in his second Heat with victory from Bager and Szczyrba claimed a decisive win ahead of Oscenda.
Szczyrba then made it four wins from four starts and Oscenda spoiled Rolph’s unbeaten record as Böhme and Bager raced to their second victories to set up a thrilling final block that began with a vital win for Sweden’s Fabian Magnusson that pulled him up into the all-important top eight.
Szczyrba underlined his dominance with victory ahead of Rolph who had to settle for third after Oscenda signed off with a win with the top eight completed by Bager, Böhme, Denmark’s Storm Thomsen, Axelsson and Magnusson.
The focus now shifts to Wrocław’s famed Olympic Stadium this coming Friday (19 June) when the destination of the 2026 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship will be decided.