The 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann fires into action this coming Sunday (6 July) at Mühldorf in the Bavarian region of Germany and with last season’s leading seven riders all in action there are certain to be fireworks.
Martin Smolinski begins his title defence on home ground Can Lukas Fienhage go one better in 2025? Zach Wajtknecht leads British trio into action The rider everyone will be looking to beat is defending and back-to-back champion Martin Smolinski from Germany who this season is aiming to make it three world titles in a row and four in total, but the forty-year-old – who will enjoy home advantage in Bavaria – knows the smallest mistake will be punished across the course of the intense four-round series.
Smolinski had an incredible 2024 campaign with three victories and two third-placed finishes out of the five rounds contested, but it was certainly not an easy task as he added another FIM individual gold medal to the ones he won in 2018 and 2023
Champion back in 2020, Lukas Fienhage pushed his compatriot hard all season and won two Grand Finals as he matched Smolinski’s one-hundred per cent podium record. Ultimately, the twenty-five-year-old came up short by just four points, although he did win gold in 2024 as part of Germany’s victorious FIM Long Track of Nations (LToN) team.
Silver medallist in 2022 and winner of a bronze medal last year, Britain’s Zach Wajtknecht finished second on three occasions in 2024 and the twenty-seven-year-old must be wondering when his time will come and there is bound to be a similar question on the lips of his forty-two-year-old compatriot Chris Harris – who was fourth last season – who won bronze in 2022 before losing out to Smolinski by seven points the following year.
Completing the trio of British entrants, evergreen Andrew Appleton ended the 2024 season ranked fifth following his return to the series after a four-year absence. The forty-three-year-old – who made his championship debut all the way back in 2003 – made the cut for last year via the 2023 FIM Long Track World Championship Challenge.
Another rider looking for a gold medal to go with the silver and bronze medals already in his trophy cabinet, last year Denmark’s Kenneth Kruse Hansen failed to replicate the form that took him to third in 2023 – a fantastic finish aided by his Grand Final victory in Mühldorf – and will be keen to get his season off to a strong start with solid points on the board.
Despite missing last season’s opening round, Dutch racer Mike Meijer still managed to end the year seventh in the series and the twenty-four-year-old will be aiming to climb the rankings in 2025.
In a sport where hard-won experience is more often than not an advantage over youthful exuberance, 2025 is shaping up to be a classic battle of the ages with relative newcomers such as twenty-two-year-old rising French star Mathias Trésarrieu – the nephew of two-time champion Mathieu Trésarrieu – and twenty-four-year-old Mario Niedermeier from Germany taking on veteran campaigners including forty-one-year-old Finn Tero Aarnio and forty-five-year-old home hero Stephan Katt.
Occupying the middle ground, Erik Riss turns thirty just one week before the final round of 2025. Champion in 2014 and 2016, after winning last season’s FIM Long Track World Championship Challenge at Mühldorf – and the LToN alongside Fienhage – to book his place behind the tapes this year, the German star will be hungry for more gold medals.
The 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann gets under way this coming Sunday (6 July) at Mühldorf in Germany with tapes scheduled to go up on the opening Heat race at 14:00 (local time).
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