| Clubname: | Wybrzeże Gdańsk |
| Track: | Zbigniew Podlecki Stadium |
| Country: | Poland |
| Founded: | 1945 |
| Manager: | Eryk Jozwiak |
| League: | Ekstraliga 2 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Tracksize: | 349 m |
| Track Record Time: | 61.28 seconds |
| Track Record Date: | 21 August 2011 |
| Track Record Holder: | Darcy Ward |
| Honour1: | Team Championship silver medal |
| Year1: | 1960, 1967, 1978, 1985 |
| Honour2: | Team Championship bronze medal |
| Year2: | 1965, 1999 |
| Honour3: | Polish Pairs Speedway Championship |
| Year3: | 1985 |
Wybrzeże Gdańsk is a Polish multi-sports club based in Gdańsk, established in 1945, most known for its motorcycle speedway and handball teams, which compete in the 1. Liga (speedway 2nd division)[1] [2] and Polish Superliga (handball top division), respectively (as of 2022).The club's colours are red, white, blue.
The club competed in the inaugural 1948 Polish speedway season, under the name of GKM Gdańsk.[3] [4] The following year the name changed to Związkowiec Gdańsk and competed until 1950. Speedway returned to Gdańsk in 1957 under the name of LPŻ Gdańsk (1957–1959) and Legia Gdańsk from 1960.
Legia won a silver medal in the Team Speedway Polish Championship in 1960 and their star rider Marian Kaiser also became the Polish champion after winning the Polish Individual Speedway Championship in 1960.[5] Kaiser went on to win the Golden Helmet in 1962, when the club referred to itself as Wybrzeże Gdańsk.[6]
The 1960s remained a positive era for the club and they won the bronze medal in 1965 and the silver medal in 1967 headed by riders such as Kaiser, Zbigniew Podlecki and Henryk Żyto.[7]
The 1970s saw little team success but Zenon Plech was the Golden Helmet winner in 1978 and Polish champion in 1979.[8]
The 1980s proved to be another quiet period, with the only significant honours being a team silver medal in 1985 and the Polish Pairs Speedway Championship (Zenon Plech and Grzegorz Dzikowski) in the same season. However, Zenon Plech won two more Polish titles in 1984 and 1985.[9] The 1990s continued in the same manner with little success except winning the second division in 1993 and winning a bronze medal in 1999 after signing Tony Rickardsson and Sebastian Ułamek.
Gdansk were inaugural members of the Ekstraliga in 2000, but they suffered relegation to the 1. Liga that season, this was despite a bronze medal win the previous season.[10] They bounced back by winning 1.Liga in 2001.[11]
In recent years their success has been restricted to the 1. Liga title in 2013 and the 2. Liga title in 2015.[12]
2022 squad
Wiktor Trofimov Piotr Gryszpinski Jakub Jamróg
Timo Lahti Kamil Marciniec Karol Zupinski Milosz Wysocki2023 team
Keynan Rew Daniel Kaczmarek Milosz Wysocki Mateusz Lopuski Jacob KowalskiSee main article: Wybrzeże Gdańsk (handball).
The club had many sections over the years, out of which only the speedway, handball and judo sections exist to this day as separately run entities.
AthleticsThe athletics team competed between 1945-1971. The club's achievements were:
BasketballThere was a men's section which existed between 1949-1995. The club made a brief re-appearance 2007-2009 before it folded once more. The club's honours include:
BoxingThe section existed between 1945-1990. Their honours included:
GymnasticsThe section only existed for 4 years between 1952-1956. Lidia Szczerbińska won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne whilst representing the club.
JudoThe section existed in 1958–2002, and as a separate entity since 2004.[13] Club honours of the section are:
1979, 1983, 1987
1982, 1983, 1986
Other sectionsThere were five other sections of the club, but they were short-lived and without any major sporting success.