It was not far from SEC having only one winner. Tough injury (in 2013) prevented Emil Sayfutdinov from reaching three golden medals. In this year, however, Russian's got a chance to get this "hat-trick".
In the first season of European Championship under the new formula, rider of FOGO Unia Leszno had to withdraw from the rivalry after 2 won rounds. At that time, he was obviously first in the overall classification and it seemed like he's taking a straight path to gold. Speedway, though is such an unpredictable sport that even while being better than your rivals, you still cannot be sure of triumph. Sayfutdinov realised it after getting an injury in a clash between Włókniarz Częstochowa and Unibax Toruń in the Polish league.
Because of that injury, he lost chances for both European and the World Championship. In the next seasons, however, he was back stronger and became the king of Europe twice in a row. This year's SEC will also start for Sayfutdinov after a recent injury. He is back on track after a 2-month break caused by the fall during the Speedway Best Pairs. Shoulder's injury caught at MotoArena made the double SEC winner starting his season few days ago practically from the beginning. Can this break impact Emil's form? Russian has been proving numerously that he's a top star riders and after every injury he was going back strong and hungry for the wins. Despite his many injuries, he has reached many individual and team achievements and definitely he's one of the best and bravest riders in the world. Double golden medalist will surely not want to leave the title to the others.
Who can be a threat to him? Definitely, it can be his rival and a teammate (recently even a pair mate) - triple Individual World Champion - Nicki Pedersen. Other riders can also be dangerous - extremely brave Grigorij Laguta, first golden SEC medalist - Martin Vaculik or maybe vice-champion of the world from 2014 - Krzysztof Kasprzak, who's been having a great form in the beginning of the season. Janusz Kołodziej, or Antonio Lindbaeck should also be very strong. Plus, there's a big hope of Czech fans - Vaclav Milik. The others will not let them go without a struggle too. That means that Emil Sayfutdinov can expect probably one of the toughest starts in Speedway Euro Championship. Everyone wants to dethrone the king.
