France completed this Sunday the European Cadet Championships (U17) in Slovenia, in Podcetrtek, with four medals in the bag: two gold, one silver and one bronze. And all have a strong Alsatian coloring.
On Tuesday, Mulhouse’s Camille Pognante and Strasbourg’s Malya Hoareau and Alex Lanier had, with their partners from the tricolor selection, won team silver, after a narrow defeat in the final against the Russians (2-3). The best result for French badminton in this European U17 team competition, after bronze in 2007, 2014 and 2016. On Saturday, the duo Hoareau – Pognante, eliminated in the semi-finals of the women’s doubles, was adorned with bronze.
This Sunday, Alex Lanier gave even more shine to the hexagonal harvest. The multiple youth champion of France went for what his status as seeded No. 1 in both tables allowed him to aspire: gold in men’s singles and doubles with Baptiste Labarthe.
He broke Axelsen’s record
Winner of his first International Senior Open in Lithuania at the beginning of June, finalist of another in Latvia at the end of August, the Strasbourg postman (16) flew over the tournament in singles: in six games, the European champion under 15 (U15) in 2018 did not drop a single set, not even in the semi-finals against Sweden’s Romeo Makboul, his successor to this Eurominimum in 2020 (21-16, 21-11).
He, who had won bronze in this same European U17 championship in 2019, made short work of Dane William Bogebjerg in the final, crushed 21-6, 21-9. He thus became the first French cadet European champion in singles. “I think I was better prepared than William, because I have already played finals on the European senior circuit. I was able to stay completely focused on this game. »
His second coronation, in DH with Baptiste Labarthe, was much less easy. Facing the Russians Daniil Dubovenko and Gleb Stepakov, n°3, who had beaten them by a hair on Tuesday in the team final (21-19, 14-21, 21-19), the French pair, very quickly led 1 set to nothing, had to wait for his 8th set shuttlecock to equalize at one set everywhere. Then she hung in the 3e while she was still chasing the score at 14-16. With courage, she conquered the continental crown (16-21,26-24, 21-17).
With this double, Alex Lanier, who this year had already beaten the record of the 2017 world champion and Tokyo Olympic champion, the Dane Viktor Axelsen, by becoming the youngest player to win an international senior tournament, achieves an unprecedented feat in the story of the ”bad” tricolor. He also offers the latter his first gold charms since the coronation of Mulhousien Kenji Lovang and Fosséen Christo Popov in doubles in 2017 in Prague.
