Alex Lanier and the mixed doubles pair of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue won France's first ever gold medals at the Badminton World Championships in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. Lanier claimed the men's singles title, while Gicquel and Delrue triumphed in mixed doubles.
The wins mark a breakthrough for French badminton, which before Sunday had brought home only two bronze medals from the world championships.
Franck Laurent, president of the French Badminton Federation, told 20 Minutes from Taranto, Italy, where he was attending the Mediterranean Games, that what was happening to French badminton was absolutely incredible. He said the sport was living through a historic moment, and that August 23, 2026, should be marked as a day to remember.
Beating China's Best
Gicquel said becoming world champions felt extraordinary and that he struggled to believe it, having beaten China's world number one and world number two pairs. He said the French team was proud and happy, and described picturing himself as a young player watching Chinese flags fly and realizing France was now above them. He added that fifteen years ago, French badminton could not have dreamed of such a result.
Laurent shared the sentiment. He said he had been involved in badminton since 1988-1989, and that seeing French badminton rival China, a country with 250 million players, was something he never expected to witness in his lifetime. He said the federation could see the breakthrough coming, but that it was still unhoped-for, magnificent and hard to believe.
Years of Investment Behind the Breakthrough
France's success follows several years of restructuring within the federation, including better detection of young talent, improved coaching and a larger share of its budget directed toward elite-level athletes.
The investment already appeared to be paying off a year earlier, before the world championships in Paris, when strong performances by the men, Lanier and the Popov brothers Toma and Christo, and by the mixed doubles pair had raised questions about whether Asian countries were starting to worry. Jeppe Ludvigsen, the Danish coach of the French doubles teams, said at the time that he did not think Asia feared France, but that France had become good enough that Asian teams should fear it.
'We Scare Asia'
A year on, following wins by Lanier and Christo Popov at 750-level tournaments, Toma Popov's final at a 1000-level event two weeks earlier and his victory at the Masters, Laurent said that threshold had now been crossed. He said France now scares Asia, that there was no contest anymore, and that at every international general assembly he attended, delegates told him France was now the nation that mattered in badminton.
Rankings Shake-Up
The titles came without France's top-ranked player performing at his best. Christo Popov, world number five before the championships, was eliminated in the first round. Despite the early exit, he is set to climb to second place in the world rankings on Tuesday, behind Indonesia's Jonathan Christie, a first for a French player in any category.
Lanier sits seventh in the world rankings, just ahead of the top-ranked Chinese player, with Toma Popov 15th. Laurent said France's depth left him hopeful the team could return from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with the country's first badminton medal, though he cautioned against getting ahead of the moment. He said the priority now was to enjoy the current titles, calling it a historic moment, and noted that few European countries have ever won medals at the badminton world championships.
Celebrations and a Recruitment Boost
Following an Asian tour, a ceremony is expected to be held in late September to honor the medalists from New Delhi. Laurent said he had told members of the federation's executive committee that they could not be sure of experiencing this again, and urged them to celebrate and enjoy the moment.
He also pointed to the potential benefits for grassroots badminton in France. After the Paris Olympics, 30,000 new members had signed up to play the sport, and Laurent said the two world titles, coming just before the start of the school year, could produce another surge in registrations. He joked that the federation could not have asked for better timing, comparing the wins to a worldwide advertising campaign that cost nothing.
