Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish former professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic Champion, two-time World Champion, and four-time European Champion. He has held the No. 1 BWF World Ranking in men's singles for a total of 183 weeks (as of August 2024). Throughout his career, Axelsen has won every single major title in both team and individual events at least once (World Tour Super 1000 level or higher), except for Sudirman Cup (where his team won Bronze in 2013).
Axelsen won the World Championships in 2017 and 2022, becoming the only non-Asian male player besides Thomas Lund to win the title twice. He is also the back-to-back reigning Olympic Champion, winning the gold medals in men's singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics after his bronze medal in 2016 Rio Olympics, thereby becoming the most successful badminton men’s singles player in Olympic history and one of the most decorated badminton players in history. He is regarded as one of the all-time greats of badminton.
Axelsen has led Denmark team to win all European Mixed Team Championships since 2015 and all European Men's Team Championships since 2012. On individual levels, he won three European Championships titles in 2016, 2018, and 2022, and a gold medal at the European Games in 2023. He also won the 2010 World Junior Championships, becoming the only non-Asian singles player to win the title. Axelsen held the world number one position in men's singles for a total of 183 weeks, making it the third-longest reign in badminton history, trailing only Lee Chong Wei (398) and Lin Dan (211). He has been the recipient of the BWF Male Player of the Year award two times, in 2021 and 2022.
Early life Axelsen was born in Odense, to Henrik Axelsen and Gitte Lundager. 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 ran a small advertising agency for a number of years, but now works full time as a manager for his son. His mother has a shop in central Odense with a hairdressing salon, cosmetics, and fashion clothing. He was named the 2004 Player of the Year by the Odense badminton club.
Career 2006–2011: Early career and World Junior title
Axelsen's achievements began 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 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, claimed the boys' singles title by defeating the No.1 seed, China's Huang Yuxiang in the quarter-finals, India's B. Sai Praneeth 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; making it through the qualifying stages before losing out to compatriot and eventual winner Jan Ø. Jørgensen 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, 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, in Copenhagen, and started training at Brøndby elite center. Axelsen finished runner-up at the French Open 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, beating China's Tian Houwei in the final 21–7, 16–21, 25–23. Axelsen won a bronze medal at the 2014 BWF World Championships 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, 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, Belgium. At the Sudirman Cup, 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 Jan Ø. Jørgensen with 21–11, 21–16 in the final of the 25th edition of the European Championships, the first in France at La Roche-sur-Yon. He was also part of the historic Danish team winning the first ever Thomas Cup 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. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won the bronze medal by beating Lin Dan from China 15–21, 21–10, 21–17.
2017: World champion, second Superseries Finals title, World number 1 In 2017, Axelsen won the World Championships in Glasgow 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 over Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in three sets on 23 September, propelling him to the top of the BWF World Rankings.
2018–2019: Second European Championships title In 2018, Axelsen participated in the European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships and got a gold after suffering from a foot injury. He represented Denmark in the 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup. In the group stage, he defeated Vladimir Malkov from Russia and from Algeria. In the group stage match against Lee Chong Wei, 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, 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, and helped the team to win the gold medal. In March, Axelsen entered the All England Open as the defending champion. He reached the final, but lost to 6th seed Lee Zii Jia 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 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 Denmark Open title, defeating the top seed and world no.1 Kento Momota in a three game final match. The match lasted 93 minutes. This was Axelsen's second 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. For his achievements, Axelsen regained the number 1 spot at the BWF World ranking and has been named the 2020/2021 BWF Male Player of the Year. He then won the season ending of the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals, beating the current Eddy Chong Most Promising Player, Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final in straight games.
The following month, Axelsen crashed out in the first round to the eventual World Champion Loh Kean Yew in the World Championships, losing 21–14, 9–21, 6–21 in 54 minutes.
2022: Second World Championship title and "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 All England Open 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, Spain. He joined Flemming Delfs, 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, 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 World Championships, 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 Denmark Open. In the quarterfinals, he lost to his training partner and former world champion Loh Kean Yew 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.