CHRIS Holder and Maciej Janowski were powerless to prevent Sweden’s late surge to snatch the Speedway World Cup from hosts and holders Denmark.

Australia and Poland, the countries that edged past Great Britain to reach the final, found themselves out of the reckoning before the dramatic climax in Vojens.

The Danes held all the aces with a four-point lead going into the final two heats but Kenneth Bjerre’s retirement and an exclusion for Niels-Kristian Iversen, coupled with victories for Freddie Lindgren and Andreas Jonsson, provided the sting in the tail.

A couple of wobbles saw Janowski surrender the lead to finish third in heat two ahead of Holder who paid the ultimate price for a sluggish gate.

Holder took advantage of a pair of exclusions to register two points for his trailing side in heat seven, while Janowski got the Poles back in it by gating and holding off Lindgren and Jason Doyle in heat eight.

An untroubled run to victory for Holder followed but his team-mates failed to gain anything from the next four races, a spell which saw Janowski pouch second in heat 11.

Holder took a tactical ride in heat 14 but a slow start led to a frustrated chase with the Aussie bringing down Swede Linus Sundstrom. The result stood with Janowski, his country's top scorer on the day, claiming his second chequered flag.

The Aussies were cast adrift by the time Holder got the better of Bartosz Zmarzlik to take second in heat 16 and Janowski’s exclusion in heat 18 summed up Poland’s flagging fortunes.

Janowski’s second place as a stand in for Krzysztof Buczkowski in heat 19 was academic but Bjerre’s retirement, coupled with victory for Lindgren put Sweden within a point of the Danes going into the decisive heat.

And in a dramatic late twist, Iversen clipped Przemek Pawlicki’s back wheel at the end of lap one with Holder caught up in the aftermath.

Iversen’s inevitable exclusion took the sting out of the final race with Lakeside’s Andreas Jonsson able to secure the silverware for Sweden by just staying on his bike in the re-run and did so in style by winning the heat. Pawlicki took second ahead of Holder in a shootout for bronze.

SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP FINAL SCORES

Sweden 34: 1 Antonio Lindback (0, 2, 3, 0, 2) 7, 2 Andreas Jonsson (3, 3, 1, 2, 3)12, 3 Linus Sundstrom (0, x, 2, 1, 1) 4, 4 Freddie Lindgren (3, 2, 1, 2, 3)11.

Denmark 32: 1 Peter Kildemand (3, 1, 3, 3, 3) 13, 2 Nicki Pedersen (0, x, 1, 1, 2) 4, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen (2, 3, 3, 1, x) 9, 4 Kenneth Bjerre (3, 1, 0, 2, r).

Poland 27: 1 Bartosz Zmarzlik (1, 0, 1, 1, 0) 3, 2 Krzysztof Buczkowski (1, 1, 2, 0) 4, 3 Maciej Janowski (1, 3, 2, 3, x, 2) 11, 4 Przemek Pawlicki (2, 3, 2, 0, 2) 9.

Australia 26: 1 Chris Holder (0, 2, 3, 0^, 2, 1) 8, 2 Jason Doyle (1, 0, r, 3, 3, 1) 8, 3 Nick Morris (2, 0, 0) 2, 4 Troy Batchelor (2, 2, 0, 3, 1) 8.