Viktor Axelsen emulated the great Lin Dan as the only singles shuttler to hold four different titles simultaneously after the Danish ace was victorious at the 2023 European Games on Sunday.

Axelsen recovered from a game down to beat Frenchman Christo Popov 16-21, 21-16, 21-11 to clinch his maiden continental Games title in the city of Tarnow, Poland.

The 83-minute victory saw Axelsen become a unique title holder of the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and European Games simultaneously.

His feat was confirmed by former shuttler and decorated commentator Gillian Clark.

“He is only the seventh badminton player in the history of the sport to hold this remarkable quartet of titles all at the same time,” said Clark.

The lanky Dane followed in the footsteps of Lin Dan, who created this amazing record when he held the 2012 Olympics and 2013 World Championships gold, and followed it up with the Asian Games and Asian Championships titles in 2014.

The other five shuttlers to have done this were Chinese shuttlers Ge Fei, Gu Jun, Zhang Nan, Zhao Yunlei and South Korea’s men’s doubles ace Kim Dong-moon.

Throughout the European Games, Axelsen was barely troubled in his march up to his third title of the year, after winning the Malaysia and Indonesia Open, as he clinically disposed of all his opponents in straight games.

His achievement was even more impressive considering the fact he just recovered from a muscle strain injury he suffered against Lee Zii Jia at the Sudirman Cup in May.

In winning Gold at the #EuropeanGames2023 @ViktorAxelsen has become only the second singles player (after Lin Dan) to hold the Olympic, World Championship, Continental Games and Continental Championship titles SIMULTANEOUSLY.
He is only the 7th badminton player in the history of… pic.twitter.com/hdP1ehPGTt

— Gill Clark aka Oma Gill (@OmaGillClark) July 2, 2023