German trailblazer Celina Liebmann admits the competition is only getting tougher as she prepares to defend her FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy in Croatia on Saturday.
The Bavarian star is taking part in the two-day FIM Women’s Speedway Academy at Speedway Stadion Milenium in Donji Kraljevec, which got underway on Thursday and continues today, where four-time Speedway GP world champion Greg Hancock and British former FIM Long Track world team champion Glen Phillips are giving 17 women a masterclass on the track.
The riders will also take part in classroom sessions covering topics including bike setup and maintenance, fitness and nutrition, the rules and anti-doping, rider welfare and media training.
A total of 13 riders aged 16 or over, including stars from Germany, Denmark, Poland, Great Britain, Australia, Slovakia and the Netherlands, will then compete on 500cc bikes in the second edition of the FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy on Saturday, with Liebmann defending the title she won on home soil in Teterow, Germany last summer.
Courtesy of FIM Speedway global promoter Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, this year’s winner will be invited to attend the OlyBet FIM Speedway GP of Latvia – Riga on August 2 and the DeWalt FIM SGP2 of Latvia – Riga for the sport’s top under-21 stars on August 1.
Liebmann has competed with some of the sport’s top male riders and featured in two FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship rounds in Czech capital Prague and Polish city Torun in 2022.
While she has established herself as the sport’s No.1 female rider, she admits the competition is only getting tougher in an event that it is hoped will gain full FIM world-championship status in the near future.
She said: “There are a few girls, and especially the girls from Germany, who have learned a lot in the last year. They are pretty fast, and I am happy that everyone here has improved.
“Obviously we want to see a full world championship someday, so it’s good that everyone is improving. The FIM is working and needs to push the women, but it is also on the women to ride and show that we are good enough and that women can ride speedway. I think everybody is really excited and keen for the Gold Trophy and I will give it a go.”
Liebmann admits she must overcome an injury if she is to lift the title again. But there was no way she was missing her biggest event of the season.
The 23-year-old revealed: “I have a muscle problem in my left hip, so I can’t really lift the left leg. Every corner entrance is a big struggle.
“I haven’t ridden for two and a half months because I wanted to be fit for this event. I want to defend my title. I would love to win it again and it will be hard with the injury, but it’s the most important event of the year.
“It would mean everything to lift the trophy because the injury is really big, and I can’t really ride like I do normally. It would mean a lot to me.”
Liebmann is joined on track by Dutch star Nynke Sijbesma, who finished second in last year’s FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy. It was a bittersweet night for the student nurse, who crashed out of the final, suffering a broken elbow. This year, she hopes to get a second chance to stand on the podium.
She said: “It was really sad that after that achievement, I couldn’t really celebrate it on the podium. But I am definitely trying to get that kind of result again and hopefully I will be able to celebrate it.”
Sijbesma says her 2024 result has inspired her to continue pushing herself on the track, even if her injury still hampers her at times.
She added: “Being second last year pushed me in the sense that I know I am able to do it. I absolutely didn’t expect it at first. Going into the meeting, I was very open-minded. I knew I was capable of doing something, but after that achievement, I was amazingly happy.
“But I got an injury at the end of last year’s Gold Trophy – I broke my elbow in four places. That was the end of my season, and I couldn’t race again in 2024.
“I have a lot of screws and plates in my elbow right now. It was quite a long journey to be able to recover. The injury has been holding me back a little. I have been racing grasstrack a little and on the tougher tracks, my elbow still hurts. But in speedway, it’s fine.”
Rachel Hellowell finished fifth in Teterow last year and the Yorkshire-born, Scottish-based star is delighted to fly the British flag once again.
She said: “Every time people say I am representing Great Britain, it gives me shivers. That’s a crazy statement to hear! It’s absolutely great to be back. The track is fantastic, and they have done a fantastic job of putting everything on so far. It’s great to be a part of it.
“There are a lot of strong contenders out there and it’s so exciting to see. People have obviously progressed from last year and that’s what this is all about.
“I will certainly try to improve on last year. I don’t want to do any worse – let’s put it that way. I’ll take what I can get and just enjoy the experience.”
FIM Track Racing Commission (CCP) director Armando Castagna is pleased with the FIM Women’s Speedway Academy so far and expects a higher standard of competition in the FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy on Saturday. The Italian hopes it will be the next step in moves to transform the event into speedway’s first full world championship for women.
He said: “Working together, the FIM Track Racing Commission and the FIM Women's Commission (CFM) will ask the FIM board if we can deliver an FIM Women’s Speedway World Championship. We will also ask them to implement a 250cc FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy to ensure our under-16 riders have the opportunity to be part of this project.
“First of all, we wanted to be sure that we had the numbers. I always said that when we have at least 12 good riders - and I think it looks like we have that - in my opinion, we are ready.
“When you run a Gold Trophy, of course it is prestigious, but when you upgrade the competition to a World Championship, that’s another level. It always attracts more people and riders because everyone wants to be a world champion – that is the dream of every rider.
“I am really proud and happy with how the academy went on the first day. The FIM and our hosts in Croatia, the Pavlic family and their team, are working perfectly together.
“The good riders we had last year … We can see they have lifted their level. But the best thing is we have seen a big improvement from some of the beginners from last year. I’m really happy because I think we are starting a scenario with the women in speedway, which is looking bright.
“Celina will have some competition on Saturday. We know she has been a pioneer; she is the best and I am sure she is the favourite. But considering that she hasn’t been on the bike for a couple of months, it could be an open competition.”
FIM Women’s Commission (CFM) director Janika Judeika is pleased to see the sport’s top female stars show their skills on the track once again as the FIM Women’s Speedway Academy continues to grow three years on from the first edition in Diedenbergen, Germany in 2022.
She said: “Starting this project was a clear message to the world that there are women who want to race, and we need to find a place for them to do that.
“In organising these FIM Women’s Speedway Academies, it was a chance to start to work with national federations to encourage them to look for women who want to ride, so that they could send them to the academies.
“With every academy and every year, we see the riders’ level improve. What we are seeing is the fruits of their work. We give the women as much as we can over the two days – on and off the track. Then the job has to be done by them, and they need to work over the whole year.
“It’s super good to see their performance compared to last year. Now the gap between the fastest and the slowest is reduced. I think this is proof of what this academy can bring to the sport.”
Laura Manciet, FIM Speedway World Championships director for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, is pleased to be in attendance in Croatia and underlined the FIM Speedway global promoter’s desire to raise the profile of the sport’s female stars.
She said: “It’s fantastic to be back in Croatia for the FIM Women’s Speedway Academy and I am really looking forward to the second edition of the FIM Women’s Speedway Gold Trophy on Saturday.
“Warner Bros. Discovery Sports is delighted to join forces with our partners at the FIM to shine a spotlight on this event because it would be fantastic to see it grow and become a full world championship in the near future.
“Last year’s first Gold Trophy was historic – the first event of its kind in our sport. The standard of competition is improving and it’s clear all of the women involved have put in a lot of hard work. I can’t wait to see them compete on Saturday afternoon. I also look forward to welcoming the winner as our guest to Riga in August.”
FIM WOMEN’S SPEEDWAY GOLD TROPHY LINE-UP:
179. Jenny Apfelbeck (Germany)
13. Alina Sassenhagen (Germany)
838. Katja Stoffer Jorgensen (Denmark)
272. Martyna Mróz (Poland)
887. Hannah Grunwald (Germany)
202. Anna Hajková (Slovakia)
15. Mascha Schwend (Germany)
36. Rachel Hellowell (Great Britain)
324. Patricia Erhart (Germany)
289. Celina Liebmann (Germany)
81. Nynke Sijbesma (Netherlands)
208. Louise Funch Larsen (Denmark)
89. Tayla Street (Australia)