Jan Fredrik Tobias (Freddie) Lindgren (born 15 September 1985)[1] is a Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. [2] He has won the silver medal and the bronze medal twice at the Speedway World Championship, in addition to the world team championship in 2015.[3]
Career
Born in Örebro, Sweden. Lindgren's father Tommy was a speedway rider before him, and his younger brother Ludvig also rides. Lindgren first appeared for Wolverhampton Wolves during the 2003 season as the team struggled with injuries. At the age of just 17, Freddie made his debut for the team and impressed enough to be brought back the following season when again injuries hit the club.
In 2005, he moved over to full-time and averaged 7.44 for Wolves in his debut full season and in 2006 he improved to average 8.12. In 2007 as Freddie started to show up more on the World scene, he averaged 8.35 again for Wolves.[4] Also in 2007, he was awarded a permanent wild card place for the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix series. During the 2008 season, Freddie was awarded with the Wolves captaincy role, previously held by fellow Swede Peter Karlsson and as a full-time Grand Prix rider he averaged 8.52 for Wolves. Due to his top 10 finish in the 2008 SGP, Lindgren was awarded a second successive permanent wild card place for the 2009 Speedway Grand Prix.
In 2010, he finished 11th on 87 points but qualified for the 2011 Series after beating Janusz Kolodiej and Magnus Zetterstrom in a run-off in the GP Challenge Final.[5]
2012
In 2009, Lindgren topped the averages in the UK with a 10.43 average and only dropped 7 points at home all season. Wolverhampton went on to win the Elite League title. 2010 saw him again back at Wolverhampton where his brother Ludvig also gained a place. Again he finished as the highest averaging rider in the Elite League and helped Wolves reach the title playoffs.
During the 2015 Speedway World Cup, he was part of the Swedish team that won the world team title. He had previously finished runner-up twice (2005 & 2006) and third three times. In 2016, Lindgren won the Elite League with Wolves and also won the Elite League Riders' Championship at the end of the season.[6][7][8] Lindgren's 2017 season for Wolves would be his last in the United Kingdom, bringing a 14 year spell to an end. He did however, win the Riders' Championship for the third time in 2017.[9][10]
In 2020, he finished third and won the bronze medal in the World Championship for the second time, the 2020 Speedway Grand Prix season saw him collect 117 points including winning the Gorzów Grand Prix.[11]
