KLINDT DELIGHTED WITH DANISH RECALL

Danish star Nicolai Klindt is delighted to be in contention for a Monster Energy FIM Speedway of Nations spot after being recalled to the national squad.

The British-based racer last featured in the Danish group in 2012 – a season which saw Klindt suffer serious shoulder injuries in a crash at Wolverhampton.

It took years for Klindt to truly overcome the effects of this fall, but he returned to better form in 2018, winning the SGB Premiership title with Poole and an SGB Championship treble with Workington.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic closing down the British and Danish leagues in 2020, Klindt starred for Polish First Division side Ostrow, averaging 2.135 points per race to finish sixth in the league’s rankings.

Klindt’s consistency caught the eye of Danish boss Hans Nielsen, and the 32-year-old can’t wait to have another shot at racing on the world stage – over a decade on from his appearances in the 2009 and 2010 FIM Speedway World Cup tournaments.

He said: “Last time I was in the squad was in 2012 under Anders Secher. I haven’t been in it since for a few reasons.

“One was obviously that my career or my form took a bit of a dip after I had that crash and hurt my shoulder in 2012. I simply haven’t been in the squad since then.

“I am finally back in it. I am very pleased that Hans Nielsen and his training staff believe I am one of the riders up for fighting for a place in the Speedway of Nations.”

Klindt believes a series of positive changes have helped him regain his form and get back among Denmark’s top riders.

He said: “I feel like I have made a lot of good decisions and done a lot of the right things to improve my career.

“Even though I only raced a third or a quarter of the meetings I normally do in 2020, I felt I took a massive leap in the right direction and proved to myself that I am not just good enough to race the best; I can also beat the best and be on their level – not just now and then, but on a more consistent basis.

“I have built up a very good team around me, which is very, very important. I’ve also tweaked my training. It’s not that I have trained harder, or run further or faster. My training has been more specific. I have gained a lot of knowledge working with a really good coach called Ryan McLean in the last few years.

“I have more knowledge about diet and eating the right things. Before, I tried to eat lots of healthy things, but then I had a problem with portion control. Then I was eating very, very, very small amounts of food and super healthy stuff, but my mind just wasn’t with it. So what I have changed over the last year or so is that I just do a bit of both.

“Obviously I am eating healthily, eating the right things and getting the right nutrition into my body. But if I want to eat a burger or doughnut, then I do that. I just alter what I have through the day and track my calorie intake.

“That made it easier through last winter up until the season started in the summer to manage my weight and control my diet so that it didn’t get boring.”

Klindt admits a healthy mind has also played its part in his progress. He said: “I’m not shy of saying it – I am not one of the people with the greatest self-belief. I would say I am a confident person, but there is a big difference between being confident and believing in yourself.

“That’s something I have worked with myself a lot on over the last year or so and I think that’s one of the things you could see, not just in my riding, but also my personality. That’s one thing which has made a big difference.”

Photo: Taylor Lanning