Jerzy Szczakiel (28 January 1949 – 1 September 2020) was a Polish speedway rider. He was one of three Polish nationals to have won the Speedway World Championship, the others being 2010 World champion Tomasz Gollob and the 2019 Speedway Grand Prix winner and 2019 World Champion, Bartosz Zmarzlik. Career Jerzy Szczakiel first appeared in a World Final in 1970 at the Olympic Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland where he was a reserve for the Final but did not ride on the day. He rode in the World Final in 1971 at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden where he failed to score in his five rides. Szczakiel's next (and last) World Final was in 1973 at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland. In front of the largest crowd in world speedway history (estimated to be around 130,000), he scored 13 points, winning his first 3 rides and finishing 2nd in his last two. He won the title after a run-off with the defending champion Ivan Mauger of New Zealand after both riders tied on 13 points. Mauger fell in the run-off, leaving Szczakiel to finish unchallenged and win the championship. Fellow countryman Zenon Plech finished third. Before the meeting, Szczakiel was considered a rank outsider to win the championship with all eyes on Mauger, 1971 champion Ole Olsen, Plech and Swede Anders Michanek. In an amazing turn around of form, just two weeks after winning the World Championship Szczakiel represented Poland in the final of the 1973 Speedway World Team Cup at the Wembley Stadium in London, England where he could not come to grips with the notoriously difficult Wembley track and failed to score a point from his four rides. He finished a distant last in his first race, retired with engine failure in his next two (both times while running last), and was excluded from his last race for breaking the tapes at the start. The Poles finished in last place in the Final behind winners Great Britain, runners-up Sweden, and the third placed USSR. Four time World Champion Barry Briggs from New Zealand reported during commentary for ITV of the WTC Final that Szczakiel had a major crash in practice three days earlier when he went over his bikes handlebars in turn one and lacerated his leg, severing a blood vessel. Briggs also helped secure a pair of bikes for the Final as Szczakiel's crashed bike was