Motorcycling Australia has selected a potent three-rider team for the 2026 FIM Speedway of Nations – SON2 – in Prague on Friday, May 22.
Team Australia’s quest to win the SON2 title for the first time will fall on the shoulders of Mitchell McDiarmid (WA), Tate Zischke (Qld) and reigning U21 Australian champion Beau Bailey (NSW).
McDiarmid, 18, will captain the team for the first time after an outstanding 2025 season where he finished 14th in the SGP2 (U21) individual world title as well collecting a bronze medal in the SON2 alongside 20-year-old Zischke.
In effect, it’s an unchanged starting line-up for Australia with McDiarmid and Zischke, while wunderkind Bailey can be called upon by team manager Mark Lemon at any time during the 28-heat program at the famed Marketa Stadium.
And the 16-year-old won’t be overawed by the occasion, either, after a third-place finish at the 2025 SGP3 world championship final at the same track. He then returned home for the Aussie summer and his stocks soared again after a stunning victory in the national U21 title.
Joining Australia at the 2026 SON2 will be the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Great Britain and – for the first time since 2011 – Ukraine. In 2025, Germany snapped Poland’s 11-year unbeaten run as the SON2 champion.
Australia has finished on the SON2 podium six times, including a third place in 2015 when Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura hosted the U21 showpiece. Two riders at that event – Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz – combined to win the 2025 Speedway of Nations for Australia in the senior ranks.
Following the SON2, the FIM Speedway World Cup (SWC) will be the second major speedway teams’ event in 2026, with Australia expected to loom large at the August 29 decider in Poland.
Team Australia’s 2026 SON2 and SWC campaigns are being backed by long-time sponsor CBS Bins, as well as A1 Accessory Imports/House of Powersports.
2026 FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS – SON2 – STARTING LINE-UPS (in draw order):
GREAT BRITAIN
1. Luke Harrison (Captain)
2. Luke Killeen
3. Will Cairns
Team manager: Neil Vatcher
CZECH REPUBLIC
1. Adam Bubba Bednar (Captain)
2. Adam Nejezchleba
3. Bruno Belan
Team manager: Zdenek Schneiderwind
GERMANY
1. Janek Konzack
2. Mario Hausl (Captain)
3. Hannah Grunwald
Team managers: Mathias Bartz & Sascha Dorner
DENMARK
1. Villads Nagel (Captain)
2. Bastian Pedersen
3. Mikkel Andersen
Team manager: Nicki Pedersen
UKRAINE
1. Roman Kapustin
2. Nazar Parnitskyi (Captain)
3. Danko Hladkovskyi
Team manager: Sergii Golovnia
POLAND
1. Wiktor Przyjemski (Captain)
2. Bartosz Banbor
3. Kevin Malkiewicz
Team manager: Stanislaw Chomski
SWEDEN
1. Rasmus Karlsson
2. Sammy Van Dyck
3. Erik Persson (Captain)
Team manager: Linus Sundstrom
AUSTRALIA
1. Mitchell McDiarmid (Captain)
2. Tate Zischke
3. Beau Bailey
Team manager: Mark Lemon