Alex Lanier won an all-French final to claim the men’s singles crown at the Badminton European Championships in Horsens, Denmark on Sunday (13 April).
The 20-year-old denied compatriot Toma Junior Popov the chance to upgrade his silver medal from last year with a 21-17, 21-18 victory.
Lanier adds the senior continental title to the gold he won at the Junior European Championships just three years ago.
Nothing separated the French pair with Lanier finding his breakthrough shortly after they were level on 13-all. Lanier scored four points on the trot to take the first game 21-17.
The former world junior bronze medallist broke the 8-8 stalemate with four unanswered points and led by the mid-game point.
But Popov would not go down without a fight and clawed his way back to within one point (16-15) to potentially send the match into a third and final game.
Lanier ultimately held strong to win the second game and with that the contest for one of the biggest victories of his career.
