With the 2026 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann to be decided across three Finals in March and April, the task of selecting the full field of competitors gets under way this coming Saturday (31 January) with the Qualifying Round at Örnsköldsvik in Sweden.
- Örnsköldsvik hosts Qualifying Round for 2026 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship
- Competitors assemble in Sweden to fight for eight available Finals places
- Riders battle for chance to challenge reigning champion Martin Haarahiltunen
Since 2018 the Kallehov circuit has established itself as a regular destination for ambitious riders hoping to earn a potentially career-changing place behind the tapes for the FIM Ice Speedway World Championship Finals and this time around an entry of eighteen hopefuls from eight countries will assemble on the icy eastern coast of Sweden, five-hundred-and-thirty kilometres north of capital city Stockholm.
Up for grabs are eight places in this year’s three scheduled Finals with the first two set to be staged over the weekend of 14-15 March at Inzell in Germany followed by the deciding Final at Heerenveen in the Netherlands on 11 April before the FIM Ice Speedway of Nations – that was last held in 2020 – takes place at the immaculate Dutch venue the following day.
The successful riders at Örnsköldsvik will earn the right to challenge last year’s top-five finishers for the title, led by Sweden’s Martin Haarahiltunen who will be aiming to secure his fifth consecutive crown this season, but first they must progress through the incredibly competitive Qualification Round.
Saturday’s entry boasts an exciting mix of experienced riders alongside more youthful competitors and one rider who certainly knows his way around the three-hundred-and-twenty-two-metre Kallehov circuit is Czech racer Lukáš Hutla. Last year’s FIM European champion, the thirty-seven-year-old topped the 2025 Qualifying Round before going on to finish seventh in the championship and he will be looking to once again progress to the Finals, but it is by no means a done deal.
Using the final 2025 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship points table as a measure, highest ranked of the Qualification contenders is Germany’s Luca Bauer who competes on an Italian licence. The son of racing legend Günther Bauer, he was second at Örnsköldsvik last season and finished sixth in the title fight, missing out on an automatic start in this year’s Finals by just four points.
Out of the remaining entry, three riders – home hero Filip Jäger, Dutch racer Sebastian Reitsma and Germany’s Maximilian Niedermaier – progressed to the Finals last year via the Qualification Round while another four – Swedes Jimmy Hörnell and Leon Kramer, Norwegian Jo Sætre and Czech racer Andrej Diviš – also competed, but failed to make the cut.
Martin Posch was another racer who missed out at last year’s Qualifying Round, finishing ninth, but the experienced Austrian was promoted into the Finals and ended the season with a top-ten ranking.
The final eight competitors are a mix of familiar and lesser well-known names including Max Niedermaier – the cousin of Maximilian – who will be looking to repeat his 2024 Qualifying Round victory that led to that season’s FIM silver medal, evergreen fifty-five-year-old Austrian Franz ‘Franky’ Zorn – who was a silver medallist in 2023 – and Fast Finn Aki Ala-Riihimäki.
Following a period of inactivity, Germany’s Johann Weber – the 2022 vice-champion – returns to action and will be aiming to make an immediate impact while Paul Cooper is on a mission to get a British rider into the Finals, with the entry completed by the Swedish trio of Ove Ledström and FMNR track reserves Isak Dekkerhus and Melvin Björklin.
The action from Örnsköldsvik is scheduled to get under way with the first of twenty Heats scheduled for 12:00 (local time).
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