Jimmy Oyvind Nilsen (born 16 November 1966) is a 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 from Sweden. He earned 53 international caps for the

Sweden national 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 ...

Career

Nilsen came to prominence in 1984, when he won the Swedish U21 championship and finished second to Per Jonsson at the 1985 European (World) Under-21 Championship final in

Abensberg Abensberg () is a town in the Lower Bavarian Districts of Germany, district of Kelheim (district), Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany, lying around southwest of Regensburg, east of Ingolstadt, northwest of Landshut and north of Munich. It is situa ...

, West Germany. It was in 1985 that he started racing in the British leagues after signing for

Swindon Robins The Swindon Robins are a motorcycle speedway team from England, established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times league champions of the United Kingdo ...

for the 1985 British League season. Nilsen impressed when as a 19-year he finished 4th in the 1986 World Final (his first World Final appearance) at the

Silesian Stadium The Silesian Stadium (; Polish: ) is a sport stadium located on the premises of Silesian Park in Chorzów, Poland. The stadium has a fully covered capacity of 54,378, after refurbishment completed in October 2017. The stadium hosted many Poland ...

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, Poland. Nilsen topped the Swindon league averages in 1987 and finished fourth again at the 1987 World Final at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium in the Netherlands. In 1988, he won a bronze medal in the 1988 Speedway World Team Cup and reached the final of the 1988 Speedway World Pairs Championship final and the following season won a silver medal in the World Pairs with Per Jonsson in the 1989 Speedway World Pairs Championship and a bronze medal at the 1989 Speedway World Team Cup. Nilsen finished 5th in the 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, England (won by Jonsson). Also in 1990 after appearing in a "Rest of the World" team in a test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the North Arm Speedway in Adelaide, Nilsen won the inaugural running of the Jack Young Memorial Cup, named in honour of Jack Young. At the end of the 1990 season and despite being named rider of the year, Nilsen left Swindon on loan to ride in the Berwick Bandits team for the 1991 season. Nilsen finished 5th at the 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship final at

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

and won silver medals in the 1991 Speedway World Pairs Championship, with Henrik Gustafsson and the

1991 Speedway World Team Cup The 1991 Speedway World Team Cup was the 32nd edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final was staged at Vojens Speedway Center, Denmark and the host nation Denmark won a ninth title, once again dr ...

. The following season in 1992, Nilsen won another silver medal at the 1992 Speedway World Team Cup and finished 7th in the 1992 Individual Speedway World Championship at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

in Wrocław, Poland. Nilsen was Swedish Champion in 1996.Speedway.org: 1996
accessed 2010-07-10 Nilsen later qualified for 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 ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

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 ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, finishing a career best 2nd in 1998 behind countryman

Tony Rickardsson Jan Tony Sören Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006 and won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. ...

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

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Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; ) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. It is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa ...

– 4th – 11pts *

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

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Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

– 4th – 22pts *

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

–

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium (known as Bartercard Odsal Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose stadium, multipurpose stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is currently the home of Bradford Bulls rugby league football club and ...

– 5th – 10pts *

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

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– 5th – 10pts *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

– 7th – 7pts

World Pairs Championship

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

– Bradford, Odsal Stadium (with Per Jonsson) – 5th – 29pts (17) *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

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Leszno Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Leszno is a former residential cit ...

Alfred Smoczyk Stadium Alfred Smoczyk Stadium () is a stadium in Leszno, Poland. It is currently used for speedway matches and is the home stadium of Unia Leszno. The stadium has a capacity of 16,700 people. The stadium is located on ''ulica Strzelecka 7''. Histor ...

(with Per Jonsson) – 2nd – 44pts (23) *

–

Landshut Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrou ...

, Ellermühle Stadium (with Per Jonsson) – 4th – 33pts (17) *

–

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Olimpia Poznań Stadium (with Henrik Gustafsson / Per Jonsson) – 2nd – 24pts (8)

World Team Cup

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

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Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, Veterans Memorial Stadium (with Jan Andersson / Per Jonsson / Tommy Nilsson / Pierre Brannefors) – 4th – 10pts (2) *

– Göteborg, Ullevi,

Vojens Vojens () is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,424 (1 January 2025).Speedway Center and Bradford, Odsal Stadium (with Jan Andersson / Per Jonsson / Tommy Nilsson / Erik Stenlund /

Tony Olsson John Tony Olsson (born 13 March 1965 in Visby) is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Swedish team that finished third in the 1988 and 1989 World Team Cup finals. He earned 26 caps for the Sweden ...

) – 4th – 73pts (16) *

– Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium (with Conny Ivarsson / Henrik Gustafsson / Tony Olsson / Per Jonsson) – 3rd – 22pts (5) *

– Bradford, Odsal Stadium (with Mikael Blixt / Per Jonsson / Tony Olsson / Erik Stenlund) – 3rd – 30pts (0) *

– Vojens, Speedway Center – 2nd – 30pts (7) *

–

Kumla Kumla is a locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. Geography Kumla is situated roughly 15 kilometres south of neighbouring city Örebro, and is connected to its much larger nei ...

, Kumla Speedway – 2nd – 33pts (1) *

–

Piła Piła (; ) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population was 71,846, making it the city in the voivodeship after Poznań and Kalisz and the largest city in the north ...

, Stadion Żużlowy Centrum – 3rd – 21pts (3) *

– Vojens, Speedway Center – 2nd – 24pts (13)

World Cup

– Wrocław, Olympic Stadium – 3rd – 51pts (7)

Individual Under-21 World Championship

–

, Motorstadion – 2nd – 13pts

Speedway Grand Prix results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsen, Jimmy 1966 births Living people Swedish speedway riders Bradford Dukes riders Swedish expatriate speedway riders in England Swindon Robins riders Berwick Bandits riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Belle Vue Aces riders Rospiggarna riders Getingarna riders