Live stream from Latvia’s capital: Speedway World Cup and Grand Prix in Riga

This coming weekend, two top-class events will take place on the completely refurbished speedway track at the Bikernieki Sports Complex, and both races will be available to watch live on Discovery+ via a paid stream. The track in Riga is now around 1.5 metres wider in the bends, and the banking in the bends and on the straights has been increased through the addition of around 1,700 tonnes of extra track material from neighbouring Estonia.

The refurbished track will face its first real test as early as Friday evening, when the second semi-final of the Speedway World Cup will determine the final participant for the final in Warsaw at the end of August. The Danes go into the race as favourites, fielding not one but two Grand Prix winners from the current season – Leon Madsen and Anders Thomsen – and boasting two further top-class riders in Michael Jepsen Jensen and Mikkel Michelsen. The squad is rounded off by Frederik Jakobsen, who can be selected by team manager Nicki Pedersen. For the Swedes, Fredrik Lindgren is set to make his comeback; he will first ride for the Three Crowns team in Riga and then return to the Grand Prix after a long injury lay-off.

Three-way battle for the World Championship lead

In Saturday evening’s Individual World Championship, defending champion Bartosz Zmarzlik has some ground to make up following what was, by his standards, a poor performance in Łódź. Ahead of Riga, the Pole remains top of the standings on 109 points, level with Brady Kurtz, but Robert Lambert, who is in impressive form, has closed the gap to just eight points behind them. It will also be exciting to see who makes it into the top seven of the overall standings, who are automatically qualified for the 2027 Grand Prix. At the moment, Patryk Dudek in fifth place and Max Fricke in eighth are separated by just seven points, with Leon Madsen and Kacper Woryna sandwiched between them.

Due to the time difference between the Latvian capital and Central Europe, all broadcasts will start an hour earlier than usual.

The double-header from Riga via livestream:

World Cup Qualifying line-up: