The 27th edition of the European Badminton Championship starts on April 24th, 2018 and will run through to its conclusion on April 29th. This year’s event is being hosted in Huelva, Spain and there are five different titles up for grabs, with the individual men’s and women’s crowns, the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed doubles. This is an annual Championship aside from years when the European Games are held. After such a successful Commonwealth Games on the court, will there be more English success at this year’s European Championships too?
Men’s Singles
2017: There was English success last season in the men’s singles as second seed Rajiv Ouseph came through the field to take the title. After powering his way through his section it was a comfortable berth in the quarter finals that he took, where he beat out eighth seed Fabian Roth. Then he faced his toughest battle as he needed to hold his nerve in a deciding set against fourth seed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the semi finals. Ouseph then took out fifth seed Anders Antonsen in straight sets in the final.
Ouseph (who recently took bronze at the Commonwealth Games) is the third seed for this season’s edition behind Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen. Axelsen was the favourite last year but was surprisingly upset in the semi finals by compatriot Anders Antonsen. Axelsen took the 2016 tile and this is a tournament which Danish players have dominated, with a Danish success coming in twelve of the last fourteen editions of the men’s singles.
Women’s Singles
2017: Last year Spain’s Carolina Marin delivered the goods after starting as top seed and favourite. It was just a dominant display right from the get-go from her with none of the players that she faced along the way even getting close to challenging for an upset. For the second tournament running, Marin took on Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour in the final and completed the job and the tournament success without dropping a single set along the way. Last season, both second seed Beatriz Corrales and third seed Linda Zetchiri didn’t even make it to the semi-finals.
Marin will once again be the one to beat as she goes in search of her fourth straight singles title in the European Championships. The two-time World and 2017 Olympic Champion looks a straight banker for the event with bet365. Scotland’s Gilmour who has now finished runner-up in the last two editions does go to the event on the back of a bronze medal collected at the Commonwealth Games. It’s just so hard, even on her best day, to see her toppling Marin though.
Men’s Doubles
2017: It was a procession for Danish pairings twelve months ago in the men’s doubles. All four teams in the semi-finals were Danish teams and it was top seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen who went all the way to take the title. They took out the 2016 reigning champions and tournament second seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding in straight sets in the Final. English duo Marcus Willis and Christian Longridge fell at the quarter-final stage to the eventual runners-up.
The Danish teams are superb and it’s likely that one of them (they go as the same seeding as last year) will come through the pack and land the victory. It is likely to just to be a straight shoot out between Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen and Mads Conrad-Petersen / Mads Pieler Kolding for top honours. England’s Marcus Ellis / Chris Langridge who are fifth seeds did receive a boost of confidence after taking gold at the Commonwealth games recently. Each of the last ten Men’s Doubles European titles have been won by a Danish pair.
Women’s Doubles
2017: Just as it was in the men’s doubles event, there was Danish success in the Women’s Doubles at the European Championships last year for Denmark. Top seeds Kamilla Rytter Juhl / Christinna Pedersen won the title for the fourth straight European Championships and they are going to taking some knocking off of their perch. They are outstandingly brilliant and will be favourites at bet365. They were given a tough scrap in the final last year though by second seeds Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria, needing a deciding set to take it. English duo Lauren Smith and Sarah Walker lost to the Stoeva’s in the semi finals.
Kamilla Rytter Juhl / Christinna Pedersen are the ones to beat without question. There would be shockwaves send around the continent if they didn’t find themselves back in the final. Lauren Smith and Sarah Walker continued their great form with a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games where Smith also took a silver in the Mixed Doubles. It’s just going to be a tough ask for Smith/Walker (who are fourth seeds) to take down the Danes though. The Stoeva’s are second seeds and a dangerous threat with second Danish pairing of Maiken Fruergaard / Sara Thygesen going as third seeds. There is a second English pairing in the top eight seedings of Chloe Birth/Jessica Pugh.
Mixed Doubles
2017: It was English cheer at the European Championships last year with Chris and Gabby Adcock getting their hands on the title. That wasn’t without its surprise though as they hadn’t been in hot form going into the event and they were up against top seeds and reigning champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in the final. It was just such a tight and thrilling battle all the way, with the English pairing getting their noses in front before being pegged back and then just holding their nerve to take a 21-19 win in the deciding set to give them their first European title.
The Adcocks’ will be back to defend and worth a look at bet365 and they have form too as they won the Commonwealth Gold over compatriots Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith in the Gold Coast. Ellis and Smith are third seeds in the 2018 Mixed Doubles with Danish duo Christiansen/Pederson sandwiching them and the top-seeded Adcocks. So there is a good chance of some more English success coming in this event. It should be a straight battle between those three with none of the other teams looking strong enough to challenge. Eleven of the last twelve mixed doubles have been won by a Danish (8) or an English (3) team.
European Badminton Championships history
The tournament has been dominated by Danish and England sides since its inception really. The Danes are the clear leaders with 63 gold medals having been collected throughout the history of the event. That is thanks to legends like Peter Gade, a five-time men’s singles winner and doubles players Kamilla Rytter July and Christinna Pedersen. It is England’s Gillian Gilks who is the all-time leader in the medals from the European Championships having won two women’s singles, four women’s doubles and six mixed doubles titles through the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Heading into the 2018 edition, England have collected 45 gold medals out of a total of 131 collected at the Championships. That leaves only Denmark and England with more than 100 medals in the history of the event. Sweden are the next most successful nation with 79 medals having been collected but just twelve of those have been gold.
