Gicquel and Delrue win mixed crown as Lanier takes men’s title at 2026 World Championships
Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue captured the mixed doubles title and, less than two hours later, Alex Lanier secured the men’s championship at the 2026 World Championships in New Delhi on Sunday.
The mixed doubles success was the first world title for France in badminton and came on a day the country produced multiple champions at the event, an outcome the report linked to a recent rise of French players on the BWF circuit. France had not been regarded among the sport’s leading nations in Europe until these results, the article noted.
Gicquel and Delrue first formed their partnership 10 years ago and have watched the sport’s development in France from close quarters. “It’s amazing, 10 years ago no French player could have even thought about so that makes us feel happy and proud,” Gicquel admitted.
Delrue pointed to a change in mindset and increased investment from the national federation as drivers of that progress. “It’s the mentality that we can win. Sports is more professional in France than before, there are more staff and players and we can focus on performance. We had a good group when we were young and won a lot in Europe. The federation put more money into infrastructure and facilities for us to be better,” she explained.
The squad's internal competition also contributed to the push for success, the players said, and being the first French world champions added a particular pressure they welcomed. “We have a healthy competition between all of us, we try to bring France to the top of every tournament and see that every week someone is achieving something. To be the first was a pressure we enjoyed,” Delrue agreed, and Gicquel chipped in, “We were also a bit stressed that Alex can win in one hour so we wanted to win before him!”
Lanier described the day as a collective achievement for French badminton after his victory. “Today was a day for France and French badminton, I didn’t feel like I won for me today, unlike yesterday or the day before when it was for me. After the mixed doubles win I felt I needed to give them a double smile and make this a historic moment,” he said after his victory.
Delrue said the results marked only the start of France’s rise on the world stage: “We are really proud of helping take France to the top among European countries and now at the World level, there’s Alex and Popov brothers and others.” Asked what kind of welcome they expected back home, Gicquel laughed: “Nobody knows us, nobody would be waiting for us,” he quipped.