LIEBMANN LANDS HISTORIC WORKINGTON DEAL

German trailblazer Celina Liebmann is set to make more history in 2024 as joins the Workington Comets in the Cab Direct Championship, becoming the first female rider to compete in Britain’s professional leagues.

Liebmann rose to prominence when she became the first female star to race in an FIM Speedway final series in the first-ever SGP2 event of the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports era.

She put in a composed and intelligent performance on her way to three championship points on a rain-hit track after being named as wild card for the FIM SGP2 of Czech Republic – Prague on May 27, 2022, before also putting in a battling display as a track reserve at the series-closing FIM SGP2 of Poland – Torun on September 30, 2022.

Since then, Liebmann has joined Polish club Stal Gorzow’s Under-24 Ekstraliga squad and has established herself as by far the sport’s No.1 female rider.

The Bavarian star competed in round four of the Women’s Open Championship at Workington’s Northside Arena in June, scoring a 12-point maximum.

And having shown her class in Cumbria that day, Workington promoter Andrew Bain was pleased to hand her a dream call-up for next year – the season when Comets return to Britain’s second tier for the first time since 2018.

Bain said: “When we saw Celina flying around Northside in June, it stuck in our minds. She was very quick that day – her times proved that.

“So come the start of our team building for 2024, her name had to be on the team sheet. She already has experience of some of the tracks in the UK from the Women’s Open Championship, so we got in touch with her and straight away her enthusiasm was fantastic. She was very complimentary of the track and how she loved it here in June – so from that, it was easy to get her on board for 2024.

“Celina is adding to an already strong team for 2024 and our fans should be getting very excited! She will be a valuable asset to the team in the Championship next season and we can only see even more improvement from her.”

Liebmann joins the Comets on a 4.00 assessed average and teams up with former Speedway GP rider Craig Cook, Finnish star Antti Vuolas, Australian talent Tate Zischke and British rider Sam McGurk.