Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue won the mixed doubles title at the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi, claiming France's first ever badminton world title. The pair rallied past China's top seeds Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping, 22-20, 19-21, 21-15, inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
A final swung in three tight games
The top seeds struck first, but Gicquel and Delrue absorbed the pressure and edged the opening game 22-20. The Chinese pair levelled the match before the French duo seized control of the decider.
Strong net play from Delrue and sharp smashes from Gicquel opened a gap they never surrendered. They closed the final game at 21-15, sinking to their knees as the shuttle hit the floor.
Ten years to the summit, a nation's first
No French player had ever stood on top of a badminton World Championships podium before that Sunday. The country's previous best results were bronze medals — Pi Hongyan in 2009, and Gicquel and Delrue themselves one year earlier in Paris.
The pair had already broken ground together, becoming the first French European champions and the first French winners of a Super 1000 event. This title completes a decade-long partnership forged when they were junior prospects nobody expected to challenge Asia's dominance.
"C'est extraordinaire, on est sur le toit du monde, je suis trop fier," Gicquel told the French Badminton Federation afterwards, as coaching staff surprised the pair with champagne in the mixed zone.
A historic Sunday for French badminton
Hours later, Alex Lanier defeated Japan's Kōdai Naraoka in the men's singles final, giving France two world titles on the same day. It also marked Europe's first doubles gold at the World Championships since 2009, when Denmark won mixed doubles — also on Indian soil.
The moment places Gicquel and Delrue at the head of a sport rewriting its own limits.
