One race remained. Latvia still had a chance to deny Poland the European title.
But when the final chequered flag fell in Grudziądz on Saturday, 10 October, three young Polish speedway riders were European champions — by a single point.
Wiktor Przyjemski, Maksymilian Pawełczak and Kevin Małkiewicz secured Poland’s tenth European Pairs Speedway Championship title, finishing with 26 points against Latvia’s 25. Czechia completed the podium with 20.
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The victory extended Poland’s record as the most successful nation in the competition’s history and ended a three-year wait for another gold medal.
It also produced an unlikely hero: reserve rider Małkiewicz, whose arrival transformed the home team’s performance during the second half of the meeting.
A reserve rider changes the contest
Poland entered the final with an unusually young team.
All three selected riders were juniors, competing against national pairings that included considerably more experienced international speedway competitors.
The meeting began promisingly for the hosts.
Przyjemski won the opening race against Czechia, helping Poland to a 4–2 victory. Pawełczak then led a 5–1 win over Italy, putting the Polish team firmly among the early contenders.
But Latvia interrupted that momentum.
Andžejs Lebedevs and Francis Gusts defeated the Polish pairing 4–2 in their direct encounter, demonstrating that the visitors were serious challengers for gold.
Poland subsequently introduced Kevin Małkiewicz in place of Pawełczak.
It proved decisive.
In his first appearance, Małkiewicz won his race against Great Britain, with Przyjemski finishing second. Poland collected the maximum possible 5–1 advantage.
The same score followed against Denmark, although this time Przyjemski finished ahead of Małkiewicz.
Then came another 5–1 result against Finland, with Małkiewicz crossing the line first.
Three consecutive maximum team victories gave Poland the points it needed to put the championship within reach.
According to the Polish Motor Association’s official race report, Małkiewicz was not beaten by an opposing rider in any of his three appearances.
His contribution was particularly significant because he began the evening as a reserve rather than one of Poland’s two starting riders.
Latvia takes the title race to the final heat
Even after Poland completed its six races, the championship was not settled.
Latvia still had one remaining opportunity to draw level and force a deciding run-off.
Its pairing of Francis Gusts and Andžejs Lebedevs faced Denmark in the 21st and final heat.
Gusts delivered exactly what Latvia needed at the front, winning the race.
But Denmark’s Frederik Jakobsen finished ahead of Lebedevs, who crossed the line third.
The resulting 4–2 victory gave Latvia a final total of 25 points — one short of Poland.
There would be no run-off.
As confirmed by FIM Europe, the result gave Poland the European crown in front of the home crowd at Grudziądz’s Venture Industries Arena.
Czechia secured bronze through Jan Kvěch and Václav Milík, while defending champions Denmark finished fourth with 19 points.
Italy, Great Britain and Finland each collected 12.
Three young riders, ten European titles
Przyjemski provided the foundation of Poland’s victory.
The 2024 SGP2 world champion scored 14 race points, making him one of the meeting’s highest individual scorers.
Małkiewicz contributed eight, while Pawełczak added four.
Those totals were enough to defeat national teams featuring established riders from the international speedway circuit.
The result carried additional significance for Poland’s younger generation of riders. Przyjemski and Pawełczak are associated with Bydgoszcz, while Małkiewicz races for local club GKM Grudziądz, giving the decisive reserve performance a particularly strong connection to the host city.
For Poland, the championship also represented a return to the top after a difficult recent period.
The country’s previous European Pairs gold came in 2023, when the final was staged in Opole. Denmark subsequently won the 2024 and 2025 editions.
The Grudziądz victory brought Poland’s historical medal record in this particular competition to 18: ten golds, five silvers and three bronzes.
Czechia remains second in the all-time gold-medal standings with five titles.
Poland has enjoyed considerable success across several international speedway disciplines, but the European Pairs Championship is a distinct competition from the European Under-24 Team Championship and the individual Speedway European Championship.
Saturday’s result belongs specifically to the pairs competition, first staged in 2004.
It was an evening decided by the smallest possible margin in the final standings: one point.
And it was a title secured by three junior riders, an inspired substitution and three successive 5–1 team victories that left Latvia with just too much ground to recover.
Poland’s tenth European pairs crown had arrived — with its next generation of speedway talent leading the way.
