Australia wins 2026 Speedway World Cup
Australia has followed its Speedway of Nations triumph in 2025 with its first Speedway World Cup win in 24 yearsAustralia is back on top of the speedway world, ending a 24-year drought in the sport’s premier international teams competition.
A four-rider team of Brady Kurtz, Ryan Douglas, Jason Doyle and Max Fricke claimed the 2026 Speedway World Cup for Australia in Warsaw, beating Denmark by eight points.
The Australian team was awarded an automatic spot in the final after its two-rider Speedway of Nations victory in 2025. It was joined by host nation Poland, along with semi-final winners Denmark and Great Britain.
Australia’s four riders battled it out with the other nations across 20 heats, finishing with a score of 38 points to Denmark’s 30. Poland claimed the final podium spot with 29 points, while Great Britain finished last in the final on 23 points.
Captain Kurtz was Australia’s best-scoring rider with 11 points, but Great Britain’s Robert Lambert finished with 14. Australia’s Douglas and Doyle both scored 10 points, with Fricke on seven.
Substitute Rohan Tungate ultimately wasn’t required in the final, but still joined his teammates and manager Mark Lemon on the podium.
It was Australia’s first Speedway World Cup (SWC) victory since 2002, with the team also winning in 2001. Australia also won the preceding Speedway World Team Cup in 1976 and 1999, as well as the Speedway of Nations, a descendant of the World Pairs Championship, in 2022 and 2025.
The Speedway World Cup in its current format was held annually from 2001 to 2017. It returned in 2023 and is now held every three years, with the Speedway of Nations filling the years in between.
Australia has long been a dominant force in motorcycle speedway, with some historians arguing that the sport was born in Maitland, NSW, in 1923. Six Australians have won individual speedway world championships, with Jason Crump (three) and Jack Young (two) winning on multiple occasions. Lionel van Praag, Bluey Wilkinson, Chris Holder and Jason Doyle are the other Australian winners.
Kurtz, who hails from Cowra, NSW, has the opportunity to make it 10 individual world titles for Australia in the remaining two rounds of the Speedway Grand Prix season. He currently sits four points behind Polish legend Bartosz Zmarzlik.
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