After 13 World Cup seasons, two golds in the team World Cup, three victories in the World Cup series and one Swedish Championship gold with the Masars, 35-year-old Antonio Lindbäck has come to the end of his career.

His decision is mainly based on a difficult season where covid-19 was behind the fact that he was quarantined for several weeks in Poland, without being able to meet the family.

- It took away the desire a little.

And then I decided that I would go for something else, and actually put the trailer on the shelf, says Antonio Lindbäck to SVT Sport.

No straight career

Antonio Lindbäck has had a career that has gone up and down.

Both on and off the speedway.

The private person Antonio Lindbäck has, among other things, been convicted of drunk driving three times and treated for his alcohol abuse.

- These are things I have done, and can not do anything about or get undone.

But it does not get better that I go and think about it.

You have to stand for what you have done, and then you have to work on it so you can learn from your mistakes, says Antonio Lindbäck who in 2013 also announced that he has a diagnosis of ADHD.

The headlines and events off the track made him take a short break from the sport in 2008. But the ability to always come back is significant for Antonio Lindbäck.

But when it was at its heaviest, the speedway has always been there.

- Had I not returned to the speedway, then it could have gone in a completely different direction.

And it is that I have always loved to compete that made me somehow able to find my way back, says Antonio Lindbäck.

"When it was true, he was unbeatable"

SVT Sports expert Erik Stenlund has followed Antonio Lindbäck throughout his career and thinks mainly of the capacity that has always been there.


- It has always been interesting to follow Antonio.

You never really knew how it would go.

Would he win or flop?

But when it came down to it, he was unbeatable.

We know with the facts in hand why it was both high and low.

He competed not only against his opponents, but against himself as well, says Erik Stenlund.

For himself, there are two tops he will always carry with him.

The World Cup triumph at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff 2016 is one of these.

- I would like to say that Cardiff and the Swedish Championship gold with the Masars are the tops, to win in Cardiff was great, says Antonio Lindbäck.

But now it's done.

Instead, family life and new private projects await.

- I can definitely imagine that I will participate in some training and play a bit and maybe participate in and support some competitions.

But it stays there, says Antonio Lindbäck.