Ukraine national speedway team

History

As the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union speedway team (which consisted predominantly of Russian riders but also Ukrainian, Latvian and Belarus riders) first competed in the 1961 edition of the Speedway World Team Cup, where they finished second in the East European round. Throughout the history of World Team Cup, the team were regular World Cup contenders from 1961 until their final World Cup in 1983. They reached the final on 12 occasions, winning the silver medal five times, in 1964, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1975 and the bronze medals three times, in 1967, 1969 and 1973.

As the Ukraine

Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the riders then competed for their new speedway nations of Russia, Latvia and Ukraine.

Ukraine national team first competed in the World Team Cup at the 1993 Speedway World Team Cup, finishing 4th in Group D (the fourth tier of the World Cup). In 1995, they reached Group A for the first time and finished in 12th place and in 1997 improved to 10th place, which is their best international result to date, although they repeated it in 1998.

In 2001, the World Team Cup was rebranded the Speedway World Cup and Ukraine struggled to qualify and did not enter a team due to the lack of riders available from 2001 to 2010. In 2011, they returned to World Cup and Speedway of Nations (introduced in 2018) action but have yet to make a final.

As one of the smaller speedway nations the team take part in the European Pairs Speedway Championship and won the gold medal at the 2012 European Pairs Speedway Championship, with Andriy Karpov and Aleksandr Loktaev.

International caps

Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix 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

References

1. "1961 WORLD TEAM CUP".
2. Rogers, Martin. (1978). "The Illustrated History of Speedway". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
3. Bott, Richard. (1980). "The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4". Stanley Paul & Co Ltd.
4. Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
5. "1993 WORLD TEAM CUP".
6. "European Pairs Speedway Championship".
7. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022".