Despite the lack of success in 2024, Viktor Axelsen is still world number one, and now he has reached a milestone
The Danish sports star gets a verdict against him in the All England quarter-final against Anthony Ginting and loses shortly after the match. Yet he is still number one in the world. Photo: Bradley Collyer/Ritzau Scanpix
On Tuesday, the world ranking in badminton was updated.
Once again it was with Viktor Axelsen at the top of the men’s singles.
His slump at the French Open and dramatic exit in the All England quarter-finals didn’t change that one iota, and the gap to second-placed Shi Yuqi is roughly the same.
Or in other words: Another day as the world’s best badminton player.
And yet not.
If Viktor Axelsen sits at home in Dubai and opens a small bottle of champagne, it may be because he has now been number one for 121 weeks. In a row.
He took over on 1 December 2021 and has since been the world’s best player by far.
In search of Chen Long
The 121 weeks is also a tangent to Kento Momota’s second place on the all-time list of most weeks in first place. The Japanese prodigy largely dominated in the years leading up to the start of Axelsen’s heyday, and the two are now surpassed only by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, who reached 142 weeks at the helm of the world elite.
The best-placed Danes in the world rankings
Men’s Singles
No. 1 Viktor Axelsen
No. 4 Anders Antonsen
Women’s singles
No. 20 Mia Blichfeldt
No. 23 Line Kjærsfeldt
Men’s doubles
No. 4 Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup
No. 17 Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard
Women’s doubles
No. 22 Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen
Mixed doubles
No. 10 Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Bøje
No. 20 Mathias Thyrri/Amalie Magelund
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Viktor Axelsen, with a little wind in his sails, can grab a record in the week after the Olympics in Paris.
Viktor Axelsen can also boast of having been in the top ten in the world rankings for 446 weeks – since 22 January 2015.
It is a tangent of the same Lee Chong Wei’s second place on the all-time ranking, which is topped by Chen Long from China, who reached 613 weeks among the world’s top ten 2010-2022.
If Axelsen is to surpass his opponent from the Olympic final in Tokyo, he needs to be among the world’s top ten for another 167 weeks – or three years and 11 more weeks.
2024-03-22 12:23:31
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