Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden) is a Swedish former international

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider. He was a member of the

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

that won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. He earned 26 caps for the Sweden national speedway team.

Career summary

Jonsson excelled at Under-21 level winning two Swedish U21 Championships in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, three Scandinavian titles and the 2000 Speedway Under-21 World Championship. He began his career in his native Sweden riding for Rospiggarna in 1996 nut would be a regular rider in the British and Polish leagues. He started in Britain in 1998 for the

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon, Warwickshire, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain. History Origins and 1920s The firs ...

and one year later in 1999 in Poland for Stal Gorzów Wielkopolski. He soon became one of the sports leading riders and first participated in the

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first ...

(the World Championship) in 2001. He would remain a Grand Prix rider for 16 consecutive years until the end of the 2016 season. He won the $100,000 first prize on offer at the 100th Speedway Grand Prix, billed as the 'Richest Minute in Motorsport' and won eight Grand Prix events in total. His greatest achievement came in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, when he was the World Championship runner-up behind

Greg Hancock Gregory Alan Hancock (born June 3, 1970, in Whittier, California) is a former professional motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more ti ...

. In addition to nearly becoming the World individual champion he did win three World team Championships (

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is a motorcycle speedway event for national teams held in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cup which ...

) with Sweden in 2003, 2004 and 2015. He medalled another ten times. Andreas Jonsson has also won the Swedish Championship on seven occasions in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In late-August 2019, he announced his retirement from motorcycle speedway.

Speedway Grand Prix results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsson, Andreas Karl Rune 1980 births Living people Swedish speedway riders Speedway World Cup champions Polonia Bydgoszcz riders Coventry Bees riders Swedish expatriate speedway riders in England Lakeside Hammers riders Expatriate speedway riders in Poland Swedish expatriates in Poland People from Norrtälje Municipality Rospiggarna riders Dackarna riders Smederna riders Sportspeople from Stockholm County

Career summary

Speedway Grand Prix results

See also

References