'I had lung damage, it was really tough' - Freddie Lindgren on battling long Covid while racing Speedway Grand Prix
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Updated 29/04/2022 at 08:33 GMT
"I have energy to train, and it’s coming back to me again. I’m just happy to feel alive again and be myself." The Swedish veteran has been battling health issues for two years yet still came close to a podium finish in 2021, and is optimistic ahead of the new season. Stream the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix on discovery+.
'You've got to bring your A game!' - The 2022 Speedway Grand Prix is set to begin
Swedish sensation Freddie Lindgren comes into the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix season looking to improve on his two previous bronze medal finishes.
However, the 36-year-old veteran has had to overcome a debilitating bout of long Covid after falling ill at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Despite this, Lindgren still managed to achieve third place that year, just as he did in 2018, and was joint fourth in 2021.
Ahead of the new campaign beginning April 30 in Gorican, Croatia and live on discovery+, Lindgren hopes to overcome his health issues and once again push for the title.
Please give us an update on your health after your battle with long Covid...
My health problems started in March 2020. I got very sick right at the start of the pandemic and I was pretty much in bed for three months. I was very sick with Covid, but at this point, if you weren’t dying, you weren’t allowed to go into hospital. I did season 2020 and I fought on. I ended up with a bronze medal, but it was tough.
Coming into winter 2021, I got very sick with Covid again. Then I went to a clinic and had scans of everything we could think of to find out what the problem was.
They found out that I had lung damage and got some medicine for that, and this was the week before I travelled to Poland to start the new season.
I had lung damage in my body and it was really tough on me, and all of 2021 was a big struggle. I couldn’t think properly and I couldn’t even run 5km. I couldn’t do it.
In the end, the mental side of it took its toll. I did the racing, went home and I was in bed for a couple of days just to try and be ready to race again.
In the end, it was my wife and mechanics who stopped me. They made the intervention for me. I had been fighting through for so long and they couldn’t watch me keep pushing any longer. They said they had to stop me and I had to get myself completely healed up and go again.
So you still managed to get fifth in the world and only missed out a fourth on a technicality despite all these problems?
I have just kind of started to realise now when I'm starting to feel better again how bad I actually was last year and it's like a revelation for myself. I'm happier, I have energy to play with my daughter, to be a good husband and good family man, I have energy to train, and it’s coming back to me again. I’m just happy to feel alive again and be myself.
What can you go and do on the track in 2022?
We will just have to wait and see, but at the moment, I am not going to focus on results. I am just going to enjoy this journey – and I call it a journey – together with my team. I want to enjoy it together with them and have fun along the way. In the end, if I get some silverware, great. If not, we still had fun.
We're going back to a more international calendar this season. With your experience on the many different tracks in the UK, could this variety play into your hands a little more?
Maybe, maybe not. I have to say 2020 was tough, doing almost every round in Poland. We went to Prague, but it’s going to be good for me to have a more varied calendar.
I had one round last year in my home country and it was good to get that feedback from the crowd. It’s definitely going to be a bit of a game-changer in a positive way.
In the Speedway of Nations Final in Manchester last October, you were lost to the team due to your illness, then disaster struck when both Swedish riders Jacob Thorssell and Pontus Aspgren crashed in their second race. But then we got a new star from Sweden – Philip Hellstrom-Bangs. What did you make of that?
I was watching it at home and of course I was very sad for both Jacob Thorssell and Pontus Aspgren. They really deserved the chance to compete on the biggest stage. They had been performing well.
But what a fighter Philip is! Finally we have a young guy from Sweden coming through and I hope he can keep up his progress.
Given that you are now allowed three seniors, on that evidence, does Philip have to be in consideration for a senior place this season?
You would have to ask the team manager about that! But I feel it is good we are having the Speedway of Nations over a full week again like we used to, and next year we will come back to the Speedway World Cup. It’s exciting times.
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Fredrik Lindgren of Sweden in action during the ADRIAN FLUX BRITISH FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday 21st September 2019. (Photo by Ian Charles/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
How do you feel about the return of the Speedway World Cup? Sweden perhaps does not have the same depth as Poland, but you won the Speedway World Cup with your country in 2015?
I think what they are trying to do with having the SWC every three years is going to be something special. I really look forward to that. It means we are a bigger group and we can come together more in Team Sweden. I really look forward to both the SON and SWC.
It perhaps was not the season you wanted with Czestochowa last year. You are looking for more this year?
I am looking for redemption. I performed very poorly for them. I was very upset with my performances. I really hope I can bring out some better scores this season.
You should be able to push for the play-offs?
We have kept pretty much exactly the same team as last year. For some of the young guys like Bartek Smektala and Kacper Woryna, they had just changed clubs and I think they will feel more comfortable now. If I can perform at the top level more like I should do, I think we have a great chance and we have absolutely superb junior riders in our team.
Did it give you a lift when you returned to Sweden and raced for Vastervik?
I was in a bad circle, performing badly for Czestochowa. Even though it was tough on my body, I needed a change mentally. I came back to Sweden and I did improve a little bit by doing that. Vastervik is a beautiful city, especially in the summer time. I am going to enjoy my time there.
Do you feel you could go push for the play-offs again with them?
It’s so hard to say at the moment. We have two Russian riders in our team and one of them is Artem Laguta, the world champion. Now he is suspended and that is a big hit for our team.
It’s a tough situation, but we are going to give it everything we have and in speedway, you have to be the best at the end of the year.
I'm hearing rumours that they are looking to relax restrictions in Poland a bit for next year allowing you to race in more than two leagues. If this happens, would a return to Wolverhampton in the UK tempt you?
For the moment, I would say I am not 20 anymore and I wouldn’t be able to cope with that racing schedule – doing all three leagues and the Speedway GP series.
I will never say never. I really loved my time racing in the UK. I raced for Wolverhampton for many, many years and have a lot of friends there. I do miss coming to Monmore Green on a Monday night sometimes. But where I am in my life at the moment, it’s a no.
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The 2022 Speedway Grand Prix will be available live and ad-free on discovery+ with live race action also on Eurosport 2.
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