BWF World Championships 2023: An Se-young and Kunlavut Vitidsarn claim historic first world titles in Copenhagen
World number one An beat three-time former champion Carolina Marin for Republic of Korea's first women's singles crown, before Vitidsarn outlasted Naraoka Kodai for Thailand's maiden men's singles success.
Badminton
An Se-young defeated Carolina Marin to become the Republic of Korea's first women's singles world champion on Sunday (27 August).
The world number one, playing in her 11th final from 12 tournaments this year, beat Marin 21-12, 21-10 at the BWF World Championships in Copenhagen.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn made history as well becoming Thailand's first men's singles world champion after a marathon final against Naraoka Kodai.
Last year's runner-up came through 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 after an hour and 48 minutes and is now the sixth man to win both junior and senior world singles titles.
"It's an amazing day. I am so happy to win," said An to Olympics.com after the biggest win of her young career.
Having defeated Olympic champion Chen Yufei in Saturday's semi-finals, An won six points in a row to take an early 10-4 lead against the 30-year-old Spanish left-hander.
That became 11-7 at the mid-game interval with the three-time former world champion struggling to handle An's speed and anticipation at the net.
The 21-year-old's athleticism, in both attack and defence, was awe-inspiring at times and Marin simply had no response.
After closing out the first game 21-12, An rammed home her advantage with the errors starting to mount from her opponent.
Marin, who had won her three previous finals in 2014, 2015 and 2018, almost looked resigned to her fate as An raced into a 7-2 lead in the second.
Then came a spirited fightback from the Rio 2016 gold medallist who committed more to attack to level at 10-10.
But the comeback was shortlived as An claimed the next 11 points in succession to wrap up victory in 42 minutes, and go one better than Bang Soo-hyun who lost to Susi Susanti in the 1993 final in Birmingham, England.
Bang did become Olympic champion at Atlanta 1996, and An will hope to do the same next year in Paris.
Vitidsarn wins gruelling men's final
While An was dominant throughout most of her encounter with Marin, it was a completely different story in the men's final.
The repeat of the 2018 World Junior Championships final, which Vitidsarn also won, was a real war of attrition with Naraoka taking the first game 21-19 after 45 minutes.
The fourth seed, who was shown a yellow card for time-wasting at game point in the opener, was clearly fatigued in the second and reduced to walking pace at times.
The crowd made their disapproval known as Naraoka opted to keep the shuttle in play over hitting attacking shots.
Vitidsarn led 11-9 at the mid-game interval, but Naraoka was soon back to his usual self as he tried to stop the match going to a decider.
He levelled at 17-17, but Vitidsarn upped the intensity at the vital time to level the match.
And it was the third seed who came out firing in the third, digging deep into his energy reserves to attack his seemingly spent opponent at will.
When Naroaka did go on the offensive, his radar was badly off with Vitidsarn going 10-1 in front.
The Japanese drove himself on to take the next four points and looked like winning the next, but inspired defence saw Vitidsarn take an 11-5 lead into the changeover.
Naraoka's stamina had all but given out with the umpire warning him to give his best effort as he walked to the shuttle during rallies.
Vitidsarn reeled off the first eight points after the break to take him to the brink before closing out victory to join Ratchanok Intanon as a Thai singles world champion.
Earlier, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of the People's Republic of China became the first pair in history to win three consecutive women's double world titles when they swept past Indonesia's Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 21-16, 21-12 in 41 minutes.
There was a surprise in the first final of the day as South Korea's fifth seeds Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung got the better of China's reigning champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-18 in the third.
Seo came back in the finale, the men's doubles, to take a second gold alongside Kang Min-hyuk.
The Korean's left the home crowd disappointed as they defeated Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-17 in the decider.
That made Seo the first Korean for 24 years to win two golds at a single World Championships with Kim Dong-moon achieving the same double in 1999, also in Copenhagen.
Finals results from BWF World Championships 2023, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mixed doubles: [1] Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) lost to [5] Seo Seung-jae/Chae Yu-jung (KOR) 17-21, 21-10, 18-21.
Women's doubles: [1] Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (CHN) def. [11] Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA) 21-16, 21-12.
Women's singles: [1] An Se-young (KOR) def. [6] Carolina Marin (ESP) 21-12, 21-10.
Men's singles: [3] Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA) def. [4] Naraoka Kodai (JPN) 19-21, 21-18, 21-7
Men's doubles: [9] Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-jae (KOR) def. [11] Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) 14-21, 21-15, 21-17