On Friday we will meet the new Individual Junior World Champion. The competition moves to Pardubice, where the grand finale will take place.
After two rounds which took place in Stralsund and Krosno we already know who will probably stand on the podium. In the battle for three medals there are three names that count from the beginning and probably only an unexpected catastrophy could deprive one of them of the medal. Jakub Miśkowiak, Mads Hansen and Wiktor Lampart took part in both finals so far and it's likely that those three will stand on the podium.
The round in Krosno was held in extremely difficult conditions. In those circumstances Jakub Miśkowiak did his best and thanks to his victory he took the lead in the interim classification of the series. A weaker beginning of the competition in the Polish round was noted by Mads Hansen, but he mobilized for the most important races of the evening. The Dane was the leader after the final round in Stralsund and with his third place in Krosno he loses only two points to the Pole. It's easy to calculate that the victory in Pardubice might not be enough for him, because he would win the gold without the additional race only if his main rival would take the third place or lower.
Wiktor Lampart is still in the game. In Stralsund he was third and in Krosno he was fourth. He loses eight and six points to Miśkowiak and Hansen respectively, so with a win and a weaker day of his rivals he can still look up the top positions.
The loss of other riders to the top 3 is a bit bigger. Francis Gusts is nine points behind Lampart and in this case the Latvian would like to get on the podium he would have to count on the Pole's bad luck. He himself had no luck in Krosno when he crashed while leading in the semifinal. Two points behind Gusts is Alexander Woentin, who is doing better than most observers expected. Mateusz Świdnicki has the same amount of points as the Swede. The third representative of Poland also presented himself superbly in the main phase in Krosno, where he lost only one point, but he ended the competition with a fall in the semi-final.
In the individual competition like this, it is possible that some of the competitors who are not considered as favourites will give good performances. This may also be the case at the tournament in Pardubice and the fans of the hosts are counting on good performances of their representatives. Jan Kvěch is in the starting line-up, while Petr Chlupač will replace the injured Ernest Matjusonoks.
The final settlement in this year's Junior World Championships will be made soon. After the tournament held on the track in Pardubice we will know the champion and the medalists. Will the fans gathered at the Plochodrážní stadium hear the Polish national anthem after the final decoration? We will find it out on the Friday evening.
