Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player. He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. He won the 2010 World Junior Championships, beating South Korea's Kang Ji-wook in the final to become the first ever European singles player to hold the title. Axelsen is a three-time European champion, having won the title in 2016, 2018 and 2022.

Early life

Axelsen was born in Odense, and at six years old, his father introduced him to badminton, playing the games at the Odense badminton club. He lived with his father after his parents divorced, and then lived alone in Copenhagen at the age of 17 and joined the national team. His father Henrik Axelsen ran a small advertising agency for a number of years, but now works full time as a manager for his son, and his mother Gitte Lundager has a shop in central Odense with a hairdressing salon, cosmetics and fashion clothing. He was named as the 2004 Player of the Year by Odense badminton club.

Career

2006–2011: Early career and World Junior title

Axelsen's achievements begin when he won the National junior event in the boys' singles and doubles in his age group in 2006 and 2008. He later emerged victorious at the 2009 German Junior and also at the European U17 Championships. He made his debut in the senior international tournament at the 2009 Denmark Open playing in the men's doubles event with Steffen Rasmussen. In January 2010, Axelsen who played from the qualification round, manage to reach the finals at the

Swedish International Swedish Masters International Badminton Championships or Swedish International Stockholm is an annual badminton tournament held in Sweden and hosted by Svenska Badmintonförbundet. It is part of the European Badminton Circuit. The tournament wa ...

tournament, and finished as the runner-up after losing to Indra Bagus Ade Chandra in straight games 15–21, 12–21. He competed at the World Junior Championships in Guadalajara,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, claimed the boys' singles title by defeating the No.1 seed, China's

Huang Yuxiang Huang Yuxiang (; born 25 January 1993) is a Chinese badminton player. He won his first international senior title at the 2016 New Zealand Open. Achievements Asian Junior Championships ''Boys' singles'' BWF Grand Prix (1 title, 3 runner ...

in the quarter-finals, India's

B. Sai Praneeth Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (born 10 August 1992) is an Indian badminton player. He became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a bronze medal in the BWF World Championships in 2019 after Prakash Padukone in 1983. Sai Praneeth was ho ...

in the semis and Kang Ji-wook of Korea in the final. In October, he claimed his first international senior title at the age of just sixteen, winning the Cyprus International. A few weeks later he entered his first Super Series event in singles, the 2010

Denmark Open The Denmark Open, or formerly known as Danish Open, is an annual badminton tournament held in Denmark and organized by Badminton Denmark. The Denmark Open was part of the BWF Super Series Premier from 2011 to 2017. BWF categorised it as one o ...

; making it through the qualifying stages before losing out to compatriot and eventual winner

Jan Ø. Jørgensen Jan Østergaard Jørgensen (born 31 December 1987) is a Danish retired badminton player who played for SIF (Skovshoved) in the national league. He won the men's singles title at the 2014 European Championships, and was the bronze medalist at the ...

in the second round. In 2011, Axelsen secured gold at the European Junior Championships, defeating teammate Rasmus Fladberg 21–8, 17–21, 21–13 in the final. He took a silver medal at the

2011 BWF World Junior Championships The 2011 BWF World Junior Championships is the thirteenth tournament of the BWF World Junior Championships. This tournament was held in Taoyuan, Taiwan at Taoyuan Arena from October 28 to November 6, 2011. Host city In June 2009, the Chinese T ...

, losing the title to Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli, coming in second place.

2012–2014: First Grand Prix title, European and World bronze

In early 2012, Axelsen moved to

Valby Valby () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is in the southwestern corner of Copenhagen Municipality, and has a mixture of different types of housing. This includes apartment blocks, terraced housing, areas with singl ...

, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and started training at Brøndby elite center. Axelsen finished runner-up at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

in Paris, losing in the final to Liew Daren 18–21, 17–21. He also won a bronze medal at the 2012 European Championships, losing the semi-final in three games to Sweden's Henri Hurskainen 21–18, 18–21, 17–21. In 2014, Axelsen won his first Grand Prix title at the

Swiss Open The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with ...

, beating China's

Tian Houwei Tian Houwei (; born 11 January 1992) is a badminton player from China. He was the 2009 World and Asian Junior Champions in the boys' singles event. Tian was part of the Chinese national team that won the silver medals at the 2013 Summer Univ ...

in the final 21–7, 16–21, 25–23. Axelsen won a bronze medal at the

2014 BWF World Championships The 2014 BWF World Championships was a badminton tournament which was held from 25 to 31 August 2014 at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. Host city selection Copenhagen and Macau submitted bids for this of championships. Both citi ...

and also a bronze medal again at the 2014 European Championships.

2015–2016: European champion, Olympic bronze, and Superseries title

In 2015, Axelsen finished runners-up at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, and three Super Series events: India Open,

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

, and Japan Open. He qualified to compete at the Super Series Finals held in Dubai, and again finished as the runner-up. Axelsen featured in Denmark's winning team at the European Mixed Team Championships in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. At the

Sudirman Cup The Sudirman Cup is an international badminton mixed team competition contested by member countries of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the 1989 Sudir ...

, the team finished in the quarter finals lost 2–3 to Japanese team, where he played in the second matches. He ended the 2015 season ranked as world number 6. In 2016, Axelsen earned his first European crown in May 2016, beating compatriot and defending champion

with 21–11, 21–16 in the final of the 25th edition of the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, the first in France at La Roche-sur-Yon. He was also part of the historic Danish team winning the first ever

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships h ...

title in 2016. Axelsen won five of his six played singles matches in the team tournament, including the match against Indonesia's experienced player Tommy Sugiarto in the final (21–17, 21–18) setting up a dramatic and historic 3–2 victory for Denmark over

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won the bronze medal by beating

Lin Dan Lin Dan (born 14 October 1983) is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is a two-time List of Olympic medalists in badminton, Olympic champion, five-time Gold medalists at the BWF World Championships, World champion, as well as ...

from China 21–15, 12–21, 21–17.

2017: World champion, second Superseries Finals title, World number 1

In 2017, Axelsen won the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

in straight games against Lin Dan (22–20, 21–16) and became the third Danish player to ever become a world champion (Peter Rasmussen 1997 in Glasgow & Flemming Delfs 1977 in Sweden). Axelsen, with a record of 4–3, is the only top twenty player to hold a winning record against Lin Dan, head-to-head. Axelsen followed up his victory in Glasgow by winning the finals of the Japan Open tournament in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

over

Lee Chong Wei Datuk Lee Chong Wei (; born 21 October 1982) is a Malaysian former badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fifth Malay ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in three sets on 23 September, propelling him to the top of the

BWF World Ranking The BWF World Ranking is the official ranking of the Badminton World Federation for badminton players who participate in tournaments sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. It is used to determine the qualification for the World Championships an ...

2018–2019: Second European Championships title

In 2018, Axelsen participated in the

European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships The European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Europe (BE), held once every two years to crown the best badminton men's and women's national teams in Europe Europe is a large peninsul ...

and got a gold after suffering from a foot injury. He represented

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

in the

2018 Thomas & Uber Cup The 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup (officially known as the 2018 BWF Thomas & Uber Cup) was the 30th edition of the Thomas Cup and the 27th edition of the Uber Cup, the biennial international badminton championship contested by the men and women's nation ...

. In the group stage, he defeated Vladimir Malkov from Russia and from Algeria. In the group stage match against

, he lost by two straight games 9–21, 19–21. In the quarter-finals match against South Korea, he defeated Son Wan-ho, but he lost to the favorite and former world no. 2, Kento Momota in semi-finals. Denmark was then eliminated in semi-finals and failed to defend the title in the 2016 event. In August, Axelsen was unable to defend his world title where he was defeated by two-time World Champion and reigning Olympic Champion Chen Long in the quarter-finals.

2020: All England Open title

Axelsen started the season by competing in the Indonesia Masters. He finished as the semi-finalist after losing to home player the seventh seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in two straight games. In February, he managed to defend his title in the Barcelona Spain Masters after beating the Thai youngster Kunlavut Vitidsarn in straight games 21–16, 21–13. In March, he won the

All England Open The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

, making history as the first European and Dane to lift the men's singles trophy since 1999.

2021: Olympic gold, first Denmark Open title and "Male Player Of The Year" award

Axelsen participated at the European Mixed Team Championships in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

, and helped the team to win the gold medal. In March, Axelsen entered the

as the defending champion. He reached the final, but lost to 6th seed

Lee Zii Jia Lee Zii Jia (, born 29 March 1998) is a Malaysian badminton player. He was the men's singles gold medalist at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and won his first BWF Super 1000 title at the 2021 All England Open. Lee is the reigning men's single ...

of Malaysia in a grueling 3-game match (29–30, 22–20, 9–21). He then took part at the Kyiv European Championships, advanced to the final, but the organizers decided to cancel the finals, since Axelsen tested positive for COVID-19. Consequently, he was barred from playing the final match with his compatriot Anders Antonsen and was awarded a silver medal. He won the gold medal in the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in Tokyo, Japan, beating the defending champion Chen Long in straight games in the final and without dropping a single game in the entire tournament. In October, he won the

title, defeating the top seed and world no.1 Kento Momota in a thrilling final match in three games. The match lasted 93 minutes. This was Axelsen's only second ever victory over Momota in their sixteen encounters. He then won his second super 1000 title of the year at the Indonesian Open by beating Singapore's

Loh Kean Yew Loh Kean Yew (; born 26 June 1997) is a Singaporean badminton player. He is the former men's singles world champion, winning the title at the 2021 BWF World Championships, becoming the first Singaporean to achieve this feat. Born in Penang, Ma ...

. For his achievements, Axelsen regain the number 1 spot at the BWF World ranking and have been named the 2020/2021 BWF Male Player of the Year. He then won the season ending of the

2021 BWF World Tour Finals The 2021 BWF World Tour Finals (officially known as the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the final tournament of the 2021 BWF World Tour. It was held from 1 to 5 December 2021 in Bali, Indonesia and had a total prize o ...

, beating the current Eddy Chong Most Promising Player, Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final in straight games, adding another victory to his undeniably successful year. The following month, Axelsen crashed out in the first round to the eventual World Champion

in the

, losing 21–14, 9–21, 6–21 in 54 minutes.

2022: Several titles including a second World Championship title, second "Male Player Of The Year" award

Axelsen started the 2022 season as the world number one on the BWF World Ranking. He reached the semi-finals of the German Open 2022 where he narrowly lost in three games (13–21, 21–12, 20–22) to Indian player Lakshya Sen. On March 20, Axelsen won the

in convincing fashion without dropping a single game in the entire tournament. He defeated Lakshya Sen in the finals (21–10, 21–15). On 30 April, Axelsen won his third European Championship by defeating compatriot Anders Antonsen, 21–17, 21–15, in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

, Spain. He joined

Flemming Delfs Flemming Delfs (born September 7, 1951) is a former Danish badminton player who was world no. 1 in 1977. He won the All England Championship, the European and the World Championship in the 1970s. Career Delfs is especially noteworthy for winn ...

, Poul-Erik Høyer and Peter Gade as Danish three-time winners in men's singles. Despite the win, Axelsen was not satisfied with the win, saying that there were many silly mistakes from both players. On July 3, Axelsen won the Malaysia Open for the first time by defeating Kento Momota 21–4, 21–7 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, becoming the first Dane to win the event in 15 years. The next day, Axelsen withdrew from the 2022 Malaysia Masters, which was the next event on the tour. Axelsen then withdrew from the Singapore Open, taking a break in Singapore before moving on to the World Championships in August. In August, Axelsen won the

, defeating Thailand's three-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final, 21–5, 21–16. This was a second world championships title for Axelsen, adding on to the gold medal he won in 2017. In mid October, Axelsen took part in his home event as the defending champion, the

. In the quarterfinals, he lost to his training partner and former world champion

in a tame defeat, losing 17–21, 10–21 in just 30 minutes. Prior to this match, Axelsen had held a 39 match-winning streak, and his only loss in 2022 so far was to a narrow loss to Lakshya Sen in the German Open semi-final. After the match, Axelsen declared that he did not play up to his usual standard, going as far to describe his own play as "embarrassing", apologizing to the home crowd for his performance in the interview. However, he won the

title, a week after the Denmark Open. He defeated Rasmus Gemke in the final, in straight games 21-14 21-15, without dropping a game in the entire tournament. For his amazing performance in this year, only losing two completed matches, he was crowned as the BWF Male Player Of The Year, for the 2nd time after winning it last year.

Personal life

In addition to his native Danish, Axelsen is also a fluent speaker of English and

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, giving himself a Chinese name of 安賽龍. In August 2021 Axelson decided to leave the Danish national team in

and move with his family from Denmark to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

. There he could train at the NAS Sports Complex (Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex). Axelsen himself stated several reasons for the move to Dubai; for instance shorter travel time to most events in Asia, which allows him more remaining time to rest or warm-up. Another reason was the health factor since he suffers from asthma and acute rhinitis. This makes it more comfortable in Asia than in Europe, especially Denmark, which tends to be cooler and where his allergy can be triggered faster by things such as flower pollen, dust, or animal dander. And the other reason is the family factor. Axelsen wants to have more time with his family. Axelsen's girlfriend,

Natalia Koch Rohde Natalia Koch Rohde (born 1 August 1995) is a Danish badminton player. Achievements BWF International Challenge/Series ''Women's singles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament : BWF International Series tournament : BWF Future Series ...

, gave birth to a baby girl named Vega Rohde Axelsen on 15 October 2020. On 7 October 2022 she gave birth to her second baby girl named Aya Rohde Axelson. Her father Henrik Rohde, who was headcoach of the winning Skovshoved team in the Danish league in 2017, since moving to Dubai, is also helping with the coaching of her husband Viktor Axelsen.

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Men's singles''

BWF World Championships

''Men's singles''

European Championships

''Men's singles''

BWF World Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

European Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

BWF World Tour (17 titles, 5 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

(BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Men's singles''

BWF Superseries (4 titles, 7 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the

(BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year. ''Men's singles'' : Superseries Finals tournament : Superseries Premier tournament : Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (1 title, 1 runner-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. ''Men's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament :

BWF Grand Prix BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation The Badminton ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

Performance timeline

National team

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Career overview

Record against selected opponents

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi finalists, and Olympic quarter finalists. Accurate as of 8 November 2022.

References

External links

* * * (in English)
Profile
at BadmintonEurope.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Axelsen, Viktor 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Odense Danish male badminton players Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Denmark Olympic gold medalists for Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World No. 1 badminton players