Jarosław "Jarek" Hampel (; born 17 April 1982 in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, Poland) is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider from Poland. He is a six times World Cup winner and earned 24 caps for the

Poland national speedway team The Poland national speedway team is the national motorcycle speedway team of Poland and is controlled by the Polish Motor Union ( PZM). They are one of the most successful speedway nations of all time. History The Polish speedway team parti ...

Career

He received his speedway license in 1998 with the Polish team

Polonia Piła Polonia Piła is a Polish motorcycle speedway team based in Piła who currently race in the Polish Speedway Second League (2. Liga). They have won the Team Speedway Polish Championship once in 1999. History 1957 to 1968 Polonia Piła was founde ...

, although he first started racing on a mini-track in Pawłowice, close to the city of

Leszno Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Leszno is a former residential cit ...

. In 1999, he won a bronze medal at the Individual U-19 European Championship as well as a bronze medal at the Individual U-21 World Championship in 2000 and a gold medal in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. He started in the Speedway Grand Prix in 2000, and became a regular starter from 2004. In 2005 he won the

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is a motorcycle speedway event for national teams held in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cup which ...

with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, together with

Tomasz Gollob Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider. He appeared in every Speedway Grand Prix series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. He earned 52 caps for the Poland nati ...

Piotr Protasiewicz Piotr Protasiewicz (born 25 January 1975 in Zielona Góra, Poland) is a Polish international speedway rider. He is a four times World team champion and earned 24 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Career Protasiewicz ...

Grzegorz Walasek Grzegorz Walasek (born 29 August 1976) is a Polish motorcycle speedway rider who has competed in the Speedway Grand Prix series and earned 15 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Career Born in Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland, ...

and

Rune Holta Rune Holta (born 29 August 1973 in Stavanger, Norway) is a speedway rider. He grew up in Randaberg, Norway, but has been a Polish citizen since 2002. Career In 1994, Holta finished runner-up to Mikael Karlsson in the final of the 1994 Spee ...

; beating Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain in the final held at the Olympic Stadium in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland. He has since won the world cup a further three times in 2007, 2009 and 2010 taking his number of world cup gold medals to four. In 2000, he began his British leagues career when he joined

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British motorcycle speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30 ...

and rode for them until mid-way through the 2009 season. Hampel won two silver medals at the Individual Polish Championships in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, as well as three medals at the Junior Individual Polish Championships (

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in 2001,

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in 2002,

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

in 2000). In 2010 and 2013, he became the World Championship runner-up, winning silver medals in the Speedway World Championships (Grand Prix Series), and in 2011, he won the bronze medal. He became the Polish Champion in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, after winning the

Polish Individual Speedway Championship The Individual Speedway Polish Championship ( Polish: ''Indywidualne Mistrzostwa Polski, IMP'') is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the Polish Motor Union (PZM) since 1932. The current Polish Champion is Maciej Janowski, w ...

. He later won six

s with Poland during an eight year period. The wins came in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. In 2022, he helped

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

win the 2022 Ekstraliga. In 2023, he was a member of the Polish team that won the

European Team Speedway Championship The European Team Speedway Championship is an annual motorcycle speedway team event to determine the team champions of Europe. History The event was inaugurated in 2022. It was added to the speedway racing calendar as an early season event, i ...

. In 2024, he helped

Lejonen Lejonen () is a motorcycle speedway team from Gislaved, Sweden, Gislaved in Sweden, who compete in the Elitserien (speedway), Elitserien. Their home track is at the Gislaved Motorbana or the OnePartnerGroup Arena for sponsorship purposes, which ...

win the Elitserien during the

2024 Swedish speedway season The 2024 Swedish Speedway season is the 2024 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. The season includes the Swedish Individual Speedway Championship and the Swedish Speedway Team Championship. In October 2023, Vargarna announced their intent ...

Awards

For his sport achievements, he received:
Bronze Cross of Merit in 2005;
Golden Cross of Merit in 2007.

Speedway Grand Prix results

speedwaygp.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampel, Jaroslaw 1982 births Living people Polish speedway riders Speedway World Cup champions Ipswich Witches riders Polish expatriate speedway riders in England Sportspeople from Łódź