The Denmark national speedway team are one of the major teams in 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 ...

History

It was not until the emergence of rider Ole Olsen that the Danish speedway team came to prominence. Previously the international scene had been largely dominated by Sweden, Poland and Great Britain. When he was joined in the team by Hans Nielsen, Denmark became a major contender for honours and won the 1978 Speedway World Team Cup in West Germany. The team were the dominant force throughout the 1980s, winning seven

World Cups 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 ...

, including a record six world titles in a row, between 1983 and 1988. Other key riders during the period were

Erik Gundersen Erik Gundersen (born 8 October 1959 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is a former motorcycle speedway rider. Gundersen is one of the most successful speedway riders of all time, having won the Speedway World Champi ...

Tommy Knudsen Tommy Knudsen (born 9 November 1961 in Roager, Denmark) is a former Motorcycle speedway rider who won eight Speedway World Team Cups, and two World Pairs. He earned 81 caps for the Denmark national speedway team. He i ...

, Jan O. Pedersen and Finn Thomsen. Further World Cup wins came in 1991, 1995, 1997, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014, with

Nicki Pedersen Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three time world champion having won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008. He has also won the World Cup with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Car ...

and

Niels Kristian Iversen Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (, born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a seven times national champion of Denmark and was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006 ...

each claiming four wins. Denmark have won the

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 ...

Speedway World Team Cup The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001. Format From 1960 until 1985, each team c ...

a record 15 times, with Nielsen being a rider on 11 of those occasions. The team were managed by Hans Nielsen from 2016 to 2023. Additionally, they won the defunct Speedway World Pairs Championship a record eight times.

Major tournament wins

World Team Championships

World Pairs Championship

European Pairs Championship

International caps (as of 2022)

Since the advent of 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 ...

era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.

References

{{National sports teams of Denmark National speedway teams

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

Team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...