48 Facts About Viktor Axelsen

Viktor Axelsen was born on 4 January 1994 and is a Danish badminton player.

Viktor Axelsen is a two-time Olympic Champion, two-time World Champion, and four-time European Champion.

Viktor Axelsen has held the No 1 BWF World Ranking in men's singles for a total of 183 weeks, and he is the current world No 4.

Viktor Axelsen won the World Championships in 2017 and 2022, becoming the only non-Asian male player besides Thomas Lund to win the title twice.

Viktor Axelsen is 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.

Viktor Axelsen has led Denmark team to win all European Mixed Team Championships since 2015 and all European Men's Team Championships since 2012.

Viktor Axelsen won the 2010 World Junior Championships, becoming the only non-Asian singles player to win the title.

Viktor 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 and Lin Dan.

Viktor Axelsen is the current recipient of the BWF Male Player of the Year award, having won the award three times since 2020.

Viktor Axelsen was born in Odense, to Henrik Viktor Axelsen and Gitte Lundager.

Viktor Axelsen lived with his father after his parents divorced, and then lived alone in Copenhagen at the age of 17 and joined the national team.

Viktor Axelsen's father ran a small advertising agency for a number of years, but now works full time as a manager for his son.

Viktor Axelsen's mother has a shop in central Odense with a hairdressing salon, cosmetics, and fashion clothing.

Viktor Axelsen was named the 2004 Player of the Year by the Odense badminton club.

Viktor 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.

Viktor Axelsen later emerged victorious at the 2009 German Junior and at the European U17 Championships.

Viktor Axelsen made his debut in the senior international tournament at the 2009 Denmark Open playing in the men's doubles event with Steffen Rasmussen.

Viktor Axelsen 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.

Viktor Axelsen took a silver medal at the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships, losing the title to Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli, coming in second place.

Viktor Axelsen won a bronze medal at the 2014 BWF World Championships and a bronze medal again at the 2014 European Championships.

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

Viktor Axelsen featured in Denmark's winning team at the European Mixed Team Championships in Leuven, Belgium.

Viktor Axelsen ended the 2015 season ranked as world number 6.

Viktor Axelsen was part of the historic Danish team winning the first ever Thomas Cup title in 2016.

In 2017, Viktor Axelsen won the World Championships in Glasgow in straight games against Lin Dan and became the third Danish player to ever become a world champion.

In 2018, Viktor Axelsen participated in the European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships and got a gold after suffering from a foot injury.

Viktor Axelsen started the season by competing in the Indonesia Masters.

Viktor Axelsen finished as the semi-finalist after losing to home player the seventh seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in two straight games.

Viktor Axelsen participated at the European Mixed Team Championships in Finland, and helped the team to win the gold medal.

Viktor Axelsen reached the final, but lost to 6th seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in a grueling 3-game match.

Viktor Axelsen 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.

Viktor Axelsen 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.

Viktor Axelsen then won his second super 1000 title of the year at the Indonesian Open by beating Singapore's Loh Kean Yew.

Viktor Axelsen 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, adding another victory to his undeniably successful year.

Viktor Axelsen started the 2022 season as the world number one on the BWF World Ranking.

Viktor Axelsen reached the semi-finals of the German Open 2022 where he narrowly lost in three games to Indian player Lakshya Sen.

Viktor Axelsen defeated Lakshya Sen in the finals.

The next day, Viktor Axelsen withdrew from the 2022 Malaysia Masters, which was the next event on the tour.

Subsequently, Viktor Axelsen participated in the Indian Open, a Super 750 event, where he encountered minimal resistance en route to the final.

Viktor Axelsen claimed on Twitter that the Badminton World Federation intended to fine him $5,000 for his absence, while he was engaged in recovery.

Later in the same month, despite just recovering from his injury, Viktor Axelsen participated in the Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 event, in which he successfully defended his title by overcoming opponents Weng Hongyang, Wang Tzu-wei, Chou Tien-chen, and the second-seeded local favorite Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

Notably, Viktor Axelsen achieved these victories without dropping a single game.

Viktor Axelsen strategically withdrew from the Arctic Open to preserve his energy for the Denmark Open, held in his birthplace city, Odense.

Viktor Axelsen was part of the gold-winning Danish men's team at the European Men's Team Championships despite not playing a match.

Viktor Axelsen was seeded number one in French Open and All England Open, however suffered upset losses against Wang Tzu-wei in the second round and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the quarter-finals, respectively.

Viktor Axelsen then decided to skip all the tournaments leading up to the Olympics in order to focus on the preparations of this paramount event.

Viktor Axelsen won his second title of the year in German Open, the first Super 300 tournament he won since 2021.

Viktor 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.