Adrian Miedziński: I’m finishing not the way I wanted, but with a smile (interview)

Adrian Miedziński is an undisputed legend of speedway sports. A protégé of KS APATORA Toruń, he decided to end his successful sports career after more than twenty years. In an interview with ekstraliga.pl, he talks about key moments on his speedway journey and his future plans.

Łukasz Rusiecki (ekstraliga.pl): You’ve officially decided to end your sports career. Can you tell us what ultimately tipped the scale towards quitting track competition because I know it wasn’t easy for you to reconcile with this decision?

Adrian Miedziński (former competitor of KS APATORA Toruń and ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz): It wasn’t easy to make such a decision because I didn’t end of my own free will but because of an incident that happened in Zielona Góra. When I returned in the 2023 season, it was really a lesson for my head, but I wasn’t fully ready for it, and now I would approach it completely differently to be 100% ready for racing, as I did every year, fully prepared after the winter with a built team. If you’ve fallen out of the game, it’s much harder to put everything back together. The second thing is that I’m not 20 years old anymore to prove anything to anyone. I believe that engaging in this sport without full preparation doesn’t make much sense, which is why I didn’t return to the track because I didn’t want to do something halfheartedly.

I think it’s safe to say that you’re leaving the stage remembered as a valuable player who achieved a lot in this sport.

I think I would have really gracefully left the stage if it looked like I wanted and imagined it. Unfortunately, it was a random occurrence, but I’m glad I returned whole and healthy even though the career ended differently than I would have liked. Apparently, you can’t have everything.

What moments in your career do you remember the most? If you had to choose the top three situations, achievements, or successes, which would you highlight? Which was sweeter – the gold medals from the Team World Cup or the win at the Speedway Grand Prix in Toruń?

Every victory had its unique charm at a particular stage of the career. Whether it was winning the Youth Individual Polish Champion, the Speedway Grand Prix, winning the Team Polish Championship at the old stadium in Toruń or later at the new one. I particularly remember winning the Team World Cup in Vojens, Denmark, which evoked such a large dose of emotions in me that I vomited on my way home, showing how my body experienced participating in one of the dream events. Each of these medals had its own flavor, but when you win them on the fly, you focus on the next goals and just keep going. Nowadays, memories are slightly different, and when they reach consciousness, they can be moving.

Even though every athlete always aims for the highest goals, they don’t always manage to achieve them. You seem to be someone who should be satisfied with your achievements despite everything. Can you say you feel like a fulfilled sportsman, or do you have any regrets or perhaps a title you really wanted that you failed to achieve?

Of course, every athlete would like to grab everything that’s available. The Junior World Championships weren’t going well for me because before the first final in Italy, I broke my collarbone at the Youth Individual Championship of Poland in Toruń, and the fracture was difficult to heal naturally. I wanted to be a regular participant in the Speedway Grand Prix, but for various reasons, this wasn’t possible for me. It’s important to be satisfied with what one has achieved because it can be said that domestically, apart from the title of Individual Polish Champion, I achieved everything, and internationally I also had some experience. Similarly with team successes, I’m happy that I constantly competed with the best riders in the world.

Before the memorable crash two years ago in Zielona Góra, was there a prospect of riding again in the PGE Ekstraliga under favorable conditions?

In Bydgoszcz, the main goal was promotion to the PGE Ekstraliga. At a certain point, I started to focus more on the team’s wellbeing rather than my individual points tally. The overarching aim was promotion, hence I often warned my teammates not to compete on a bad track. In previous years, the Bydgoszcz team had trouble at crucial moments of the season due to injuries and I really wanted to prevent this. As you can see, I wanted to ensure this so much that I ended up out of this play myself. The main premise was, however, return to PGE Ekstraliga with ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz.

Looking back at your past, would you have made different decisions or focused more on certain aspects of preparation or do you leave that behind and not worry about it?

You could always have made different decisions and taken another path, but we also never know what outcome such decisions would have brought. I think uncovering this doesn’t have much sense. We can’t change life and can only analyze what could have been changed, but I prefer to rely on what was. The most important thing is that we can talk and everything is okay. I’m ending my career, not how I’d like, but with a smile on my face and some regret at the same time.

Your career lasted a little over 20 years, and during this time speedway sport has changed a lot. How would you briefly assess the changes that have occurred since you started – from mental-physical aspects, equipment, or track-related aspects?

Mental preparation is such an individual matter that there is no point in delving too deeply into it. I worked with a psychologist and tried to be as prepared in these areas as best as I could. What has changed? Certainly, the equipment has changed. In the past, it was demanding but not as sensitive to settings, and now the rider needs a good environment and effective mechanics because results are built together, with the whole team. Currently, the result is heavily dependent on the equipment settings, and in my opinion, this is not entirely good because the result should depend on the rider, not the equipment. For instance, in the past, seniors rarely lost to juniors, but now it happens quite often. Certainly, an aspect that caught me off guard was the introduction of new, quieter silencers which were first non-flowing and then partially flowing. These changes really stirred up the speedway sport and were among the biggest in recent times.

It is known that you completed a speedway sport instructor course, helping especially young riders during the season. Do you have a clearly outlined plan for further work in speedway sports, and do you feel you’ll be able to derive satisfaction from it?

A specific goal isn’t clearly outlined, there are certainly ideas, but nothing has been agreed upon yet. I’ve made the appropriate documents, and last season I helped at ABRAMCZYK POLONIA Bydgoszcz. When it comes to cooperation, especially with young speedway riders, it needs to be continued constantly to achieve progressive results. It’s hard to do effectively sporadically. Of course, you can advise something, but there won’t be the same effect as with long-term cooperation. Sometimes my heart aches a bit because I would ride a motorcycle myself, but I feel I’ve dedicated my life to this and have knowledge on this topic, which I am happy to share with younger riders, and their good results also bring me satisfaction and great joy. Why shouldn’t I do this, as long as I derive satisfaction, and currently, it is the case.

Can we expect any farewell tournament marking the end of your career?

Honestly, it would be nice to organize such a tournament, but not everything depends on me. There’s certainly such an idea forming in my head, but it’s still too early to talk about.

How do you assess the potential of KS APATORA Toruń in the next season? Do you think they might finally be able to challenge ORLEN OIL MOTOR Lublin?

Every team can threaten the leader, although it is known there are stronger and weaker teams. I think Piotr Baron made a good change to the track, and it gave a big advantage this year. It is known that other riders will learn this track, but it will still be a considerable advantage for Angels. As for the lineup, I think it is really okay because there are riders who can beat anyone. The team comprises a strong group of five seniors and juniors who caught the wind towards the end of the season, so I look at it optimistically. I think the team will be more balanced next year than this year, but it is known that in motorsport, different scenarios happen, and the season will verify everything because many aspects influence the final result. On paper, it looks really interesting, and I think KS APATOR Toruń will be disappointed if they don’t reach the PGE Ekstraliga final next season. We shall see what happens because it is really hard to assume in advance what the results will be at the end of the season, though it was possible to anticipate ORLEN OIL MOTOR Lublin’s dominance or FOGO UNII Leszno in previous years, every hegemony ends sooner or later because that’s the cycle of things.

Łukasz Rusiecki