Leon Madsen believes it is now or never in bid to unseat long-time rival Bartosz Zmarzlik and win Speedway Grand Prix
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Published 24/04/2024 at 15:07 GMT
Leon Madsen believes 2024 will be his best chance to win the first Speedway Grand Prix world championship of his career. However, to do so he will have to dethrone long-term rival Bartosz Zmarzlik, who has sat atop the World Championship standings since his win at the season-opener in Donji Kraljevec in April 2022. Madsen won silver in 2022 and 2019 but is yet to win a gold medal.
Madsen earns Rider Of The Round accolade from Prague
Leon Madsen believes it is now or never in his bid to dethrone long-time rival Bartosz Zmarzlik and win the Speedway Grand Prix world championship.
The Dane will get his bid to end Zmarzlik's two-year stay atop the world championship standings underway at Saturday’s Speedway GP of Croatia.
The 35-year-old won SGP silver in 2019 and 2022 but is yet to go the distance and win gold ahead of this season's opener.
However, Madsen insists that 2024 is his year after a strong finish in 2023.
“Mark my words; if I am going to win the world championship, it’s going to be in 2024," he said.
"We just have to step up, be better and not have any off-days. That’s really the main key to it; being consistent all the way through the season.
“A guy like Artem proved that if you can be stable and deliver at the top level at every GP round, then you can beat him.
“You have to be really, really, really good to win the world championship, even without Bartosz in it.
"There is a lot of hard competition and a lot of good riders in it. It’s not only Bartosz. But with Bartosz in the GPs, you have to be extremely good to beat him and win the title."
Madsen finished fifth in the 2023 Speedway Grand Prix but enjoyed an impressive final two races, finishing first on his home track before placing third in Toruń.
The Dane believes he can take that momentum into this year's championship.
“We finished off on a high,” he added.
“I plan to take that with me into the new season. I am continuing with the same equipment that we know is working.
“We were testing a lot last year and trying to maybe develop the template with the engines, and it just went in the wrong direction. We kept trying to make it work for too long. Then you start to get the bad results and it affects your confidence. It went as low as it could get in Cardiff.
“After that, I knew it was time to make some big changes. We did that coming into Vojens and we saw the results of that.
"I moved on to Torun and, again, it was a good result. That gives me a lot of confidence, knowing the equipment is working. I believe in that and with the mental state I am in, I believe I will be up there in the top mix.”
The 2024 Speedway season will be available to stream live and ad-free on discovery+.
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