Thomas Laybourn (born 30 September 1977) is a retired badminton player from Denmark. He is a World Champion, two times European Champion and was ranked as world number 1 in the mixed doubles in January 2011.

Career Laybourn won the 2006 European Badminton Championships in the mixed doubles with partner Kamilla Rytter Juhl. He also competed at the 2006 IBF World Championships in mixed doubles (with Juhl), and were defeated in the quarterfinals by Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms 14–21, 17–21.

Laybourn made his first appearance at the Olympic Games in 2008 Beijing in the mixed doubles event with Juhl. They defeated Singaporean pair Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Li Yujia in the first round, but lost to Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa of Indonesia in the quarter-finals with a close rubber games.

His biggest success was the title in the 2009 World Championships in the mixed doubles with partner Kamilla Rytter Juhl. It was the first Danish World Championships win since 2003, when Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen won the men's doubles competition.

In 2012, Laybourn played at the London Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals stage with partner Juhl. The pair beat Valiyaveetil Diju and Jwala Gutta of India, and Lee Yong-dae and Ha Jung-eun of South Korea, but were defeated by Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia to stand as runners-up in Group C. They then lost to eventual gold medalists Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China in the quarter-finals in straight games. After the London Olympics, Laybourn retired from the international competitions.

Laybourn created a site named Badminton Famly to share knowledge, opinions, and tips about badminton. Badminton Famly is also active on several platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Achievements

BWF World Championships Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2009 Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, India Kamilla Rytter Juhl Nova Widianto Liliyana Natsir 21–13, 21–17 Gold

European Championships Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2006 Maaspoort Sports and Events,Den Bosch, Netherlands Kamilla Rytter Juhl Jens Eriksen Mette Schjoldager 22–20, 21–15 Gold 2010 Manchester Evening News Arena,Manchester, England Kamilla Rytter Juhl Robert Mateusiak Nadieżda Kostiuczyk 21–19, 18–21, 21–12 Gold 2012 Telenor Arena,Karlskrona, Sweden Kamilla Rytter Juhl Mads Pieler Kolding Julie Houmann 21–16, 19–21, 18–21 Bronze

BWF Superseries The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year.

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2007 Korea Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Zheng Bo Gao Ling 20–22, 19–21 Runner-up 2008 Indonesia Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Zheng Bo Gao Ling 14–21, 8–21 Runner-up 2008 Denmark Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Joachim Fischer Nielsen Christinna Pedersen 14–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2008 World Superseries Masters Finals Kamilla Rytter Juhl Nova Widianto Liliyana Natsir 21–19, 18–21, 22–20 Winner 2010 Malaysia Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Tao Jiaming Zhang Yawen 21–19, 18–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2010 Singapore Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Nova Widianto Liliyana Natsir 21–12, 21–15 Winner 2010 Denmark Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Nathan Robertson Jenny Wallwork 21–12, 12–21, 21–9 Winner 2012 All England Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Tontowi Ahmad Liliyana Natsir 17–21, 19–21 Runner-up BWF Superseries Finals tournament BWF Superseries Premier tournament BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2004Dutch Open Peter Steffensen Howard Bach Tony Gunawan 8–15, 7–15 Runner-up 2006Singapore Open Lars Paaske Sigit Budiarto Flandy Limpele 8–21, 16–21 Runner-up

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2004 Dutch Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Peter Steffensen Lena Frier Kristiansen 15–11, 15–7 Winner 2005 All England Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Nathan Robertson Gail Emms 10–15, 12–15 Runner-up 2005 Thailand Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Lee Jae-jin Lee Hyo-jung 12–15, 12–15 Runner-up 2005 Denmark Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Lars Paaske Helle Nielsen 15–8, 15–9 Winner 2006 Macau Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Zhang Jun Gao Ling 21–19, 22–20 Winner 2006 Denmark Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Anthony Clark Donna Kellogg 21–14, 14–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2007 Chinese Taipei Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Flandy Limpele Vita Marissa 18–21, 23–25 Runner-up 2011 Bitburger Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Chan Peng Soon Goh Liu Ying 18–21, 21–14, 25–27 Runner-up 2012 German Open Kamilla Rytter Juhl Lee Yong-dae Ha Jung-eun 21–9, 21–16 Winner BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

IBF International Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2003 Finnish International Jesper Thomsen Mikhail Kelj Victor Maljutin 11–15, 12–15 Runner-up

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2001 Iceland International Karina Sørensen Aqueel Bhatti Emma Hendry 7–2, 7–4, 7–1 Winner 2003 Finnish International Julie Houmann Kasper Ødum Lene Mørk 11–5, 11–8 Winner

Record against selected opponents Mixed doubles results with Kamilla Rytter Juhl against Superseries Final finalists, Worlds Semi-finalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.

He Hanbin & Yu Yang 0–1 Tao Jiaming & Zhang Yawen 0–2 Zhang Nan & Zhao Yunlei 1–0 Zheng Bo & Ma Jin 1–3 Zheng Bo & Gao Ling 0–4 Zhang Jun & Gao Ling 1–0 Xu Chen & Ma Jin 1–2 Chen Hung-ling & Cheng Wen-hsing 0–1 Jens Eriksen & Mette Schjoldager 2–0 Joachim Fischer Nielsen & Christinna Pedersen 1–3 Nathan Robertson & Gail Emms 3–4 Anthony Clark & Donna Kellogg 1–1 Nathan Robertson & Jenny Wallwork 4–1 / Chris Adcock & Imogen Bankier 1–0 Michael Fuchs & Birgit Michels 2–2 Valiyaveetil Diju & Jwala Gutta 3–0 Flandy Limpele & Vita Marissa 1–2 / Hendra Setiawan & Anastasia Russkikh 1–0 Nova Widianto & Liliyana Natsir 5–10 Tontowi Ahmad & Liliyana Natsir 1–3 Hendra Aprida Gunawan & Vita Marissa 2–1 Ko Sung-hyun & Ha Jung-eun 1–2 Lee Yong-dae & Lee Hyo-jung 1–4 Koo Kien Keat & Wong Pei Tty 2–1 Robert Mateusiak & Nadieżda Zięba 4–0 Hendri Saputra & Li Yujia 4–0 Sudket Prapakamol & Saralee Thungthongkam 4–1

References

External links Official site