3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 22, 2026 11:39 PM IST
Hailing from the coast of Normandy, Frenchman Alex Lanier grew up around cold, biting winds. The first-ever men’s singles finalist from his country at the World Championships knows plenty about winds and drift as his father served as a weatherman for both recreational and competitive sailors.
Lanier beat Canada’s Victor Lai 21-16, 13-21, 14-21 and will now face Japanese Kodai Naraoka, a retrieving automaton who can go on seemingly for hours.
The Indira Gandhi indoor stadium is perfectly built for Naraoka, who already has a Worlds silver. For Lanier though, this will be a first-ever final. A man who loves to be by himself and treats badminton as a meditative pursuit with his old fashioned classical retro game-style, he will need to bring the tricks from his two other favourite sports – golf and chess.
Lanier is European badminton’s newest darling. Former Danish multiple medallist – two mixed doubles bronze at Worlds and London Olympics bronze winner – Joachim Fischer Nielsen, who is in Delhi as a TV journalist for DenmarkTV2, says that while Lanier trained alongwith Rasmus Gemke and Anders Antonsen, the rise of French winners is a tough pill to swallow for the Danes, who had for long dominated European badminton.
“We have gone soft in Denmark. Coaches can’t be strict anymore,” he laments, even as Lanier is hailed as a physical beast with ripped muscles and endless stamina.
Lai stressed how the sophisticated sports science used by the French is seeing them push boundaries. After Christo Popov’s World Tour Finals win and France reaching the Thomas Cup finals, now it’s Lanier who has made history reaching the Worlds summit clash.
Significantly, France acquires the most talented but unknown coaching personnel from across Europe. Lanier’s coaches are Lithuanian Kestuis Naviklas and mixed doubles’ expert from Iceland Tinna Ludvigsen, both of whom focus on such niche microscopic details that the Danes are awe-struck by the French surge in badminton.
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Is Lanier out of words to describe reaching the World’s final, the media asks him.
“I don’t feel very emotional because I’m a little too tired. Mentally I’m not thinking how big it is, because I haven’t won the title yet,” he says matter-of-factly. His coach chides him good-humouredly for almost botching the win against Kunlavut Vitidsarn saying, “Don’t try to look too cool!”
The coach also edits his sentiment of enjoying badminton this week, urging some urgency though the Frenchman has done well to go deep through a tough field to reach the final. “He’s enjoying it a little too much,” he jokes. “But he has a champion mindset.”
