The next generation of Long Track stars will showcase their talents this coming Saturday (9 May) when the 2026 FIM Long Track U23 World Cup is staged at the Speed Centre Roden in the Netherlands.

  • Fourth edition of FIM Long Track Under 23 World Cup set for Saturday
  • Speed Centre Roden plays host to rising stars of Long Track
  • Can Timo Wachs defend his crown in the Netherlands?

Preceding the opening round of the 2026 FIM Flat Track World Championship that takes place at the Dutch venue later the same day, the fourth edition of the FIM Long Track U23 World Cup will bring the sport’s leading young riders together for a competition that represents a major step on the career ladder.

By performing in front of a sizeable crowd of passionate fans, the potential stars of the future will get a genuine feel for the atmosphere of performing at an elite level that matches perfectly with the FIM’s forward-thinking ethos of encouraging, inspiring and developing young talent.

Out of the sixteen-strong entry, eleven riders are veterans of the 2025 competition and last season’s entire top five will return for another attempt at the title with twenty-three-year-old Timo Wachs from Germany aiming to defend the crown he won last year in his home country.

On that memorable evening in the Reiterwaldstadion Vechta, Wachs dropped just one Heat win on his way to the top step of the podium and this time around he will once again have to contend with strong opposition from the likes of Denmark’s Patrick Kruse as well as the talented French trio of Théo Ugoni, Tino Bouin and Noah Urda who completed the top five in 2025.

Wachs, Kruse and Bouin all translated their undoubted talent into points in last season’s FIM Long Track World Championship – valuable experience they will hope to put to good use in Roden – while Britain’s Jake Mulford, who won the FIM Long Track U23 World Cup two years ago, will be attempting to regain the title following two scoring rides in the 2025 top-flight series that saw him end the year ranked an impressive fifteenth.

For Wachs, Ugoni and Bouin, this will be their fourth consecutive appearance in the FIM Long Track Under 23 World Cup and this experience could be decisive, although there is no shortage of ambitious young riders with their sights set on what could be a breakthrough performance.

Out of the other returning riders, the highest-placed finisher last year was Jan Hlačina from the Czech Republic in seventh, two places above Germany’s Tim Widera who in turn was just one position ahead of Niek Meijerink who will enjoy home advantage on Saturday, but with so much talent on display – including Dutch fast female Nynke Sijbesma – the final result is too close to call.

The action from Roden is due to get under way with tapes up on the first of fifteen Heat races scheduled for 12:15 (local time).

FIM-MOTO.TV brings you LIVE coverage of the FIM Long Track Under 23 World Cup in Roden, Netherlands, so you won’t miss a moment as the world’s top young riders go head to head. Click here for further information.