Discipline the key to badminton queen An Se-young’s record haul of 10 titles this year

SINGAPORE – For many athletes, the search for greatness is an endless pursuit and An Se-young knows this better than most.

The South Korean badminton queen’s unique training methods, which include working out in weighted vests to running on sand dunes, have helped propel her to the top of the world rankings.

Yet sometimes, her edge comes not from unorthodox routines but from something far simpler: Discipline.

On a South Korean talk show, she revealed that she maintains a strict diet during competitions, avoiding dairy products and raw foods. The last time she allowed herself fried food was last Christmas.

She said: “When I’m in top form, the shuttlecock looks slower.”

That clarity has shown on court all season. On Nov 23, An became the first female singles player to win 10 Badminton World Federation World Tour titles in a season, achieving the feat at the Australian Open.

The world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champion set the previous record of nine World Tour titles in 2023, the same year she also won the singles and team golds at the Asian Games.

Her numbers underline the dominance: a 94.4 per cent win rate with 68 wins and four losses in 72 matches, which saw her reach 11 finals in 14 World Tour events in 2025. The only event where she failed to make at least the semi-finals was May’s Singapore Open, when she was knocked out by Chen Yufei in the last eight.

With the BWF World Tour Finals – a tournament she last won in 2021 – remaining, An still has a chance to match Japanese Kento Momota’s record of 11 titles in a season set in 2019.

She said: “I would like to get the record, but I am just thinking one by one, step by step. I just want to play my best always.”

Rise to the summit

Still just 23, An’s ascent did not begin just this season – she has been a fixture at the top for years.

In 2017, at only 15, she guided South Korea to the Asian Junior Championships crown in Jakarta and joined the senior national team, despite still being a junior high student.

She rose to global prominence in 2019, when she stunned 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui at the New Zealand Open to claim her first World Tour title.

That victory ignited a breakout season, during which she captured four more titles and took down other major names, including then world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying.

Her rapid surge – climbing from world No. 78 at the New Zealand Open to No. 9 by the year’s end – earned her the BWF’s Most Promising Player of the Year award.

The Covid-19 pandemic briefly slowed her rise, but she returned stronger. In 2021, she beat P.V. Sindhu to win her first World Tour Finals.

The next year, she reached five finals, won three, claimed the world championships bronze and helped South Korea lift their second-ever Uber Cup.

Then came 2023, a watershed season in which she reached 10 World Tour finals and won eight, rose to the top of the world rankings and became South Korea’s first women’s singles world champion.

She continued on that trajectory with four titles in 2024, capping it off with an Olympic gold at the Paris Games, after overcoming China’s He Bingjiao in the final.

Her feat in France not only added more silverware to her collection, but also proved to be one of the defining moments of her career, said An in an interview with Olympics.com, as she toyed between whether to play defensively or aggressively.

A blend of athletic wizardry and mental steel

In the end, she decided on a more aggressive style. An explained: “I’d say I’ve spent more time on weight training or finding the right timing in launching my attack to be able to make more attack-minded approaches to the game.

“The change was about adding more attacking play to my game, rather than reshuffling my attacking plan (totally).”

An’s game blends defensive mastery with an increasingly sharp offensive edge. Her speed, footwork and vision allow her to anticipate plays early and cover the court well.

Former Olympic champion Chen said of An: “She’s better in technique, tactics, physical and mental strength, and overall ability.

“Having such an outstanding player as a benchmark is great for me – it motivates me to keep improving.”

What elevates An is her composure under fire, allowing the South Korean to turn deficits into triumphs, like when she looked on the brink of losing in the 2025 Indonesia Open final as she trailed 9-17 to world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi in the second game after losing the first.

But in an incredible comeback, she turned the game around before winning the third game to clinch her fifth title of the year.

That focus and ambition were evident early on. At nine, a coach told her: “You can’t be world No. 1 by studying, but in sport, I can make you world No. 1.”

His words had a profound impact on her, guiding her decision to pursue the sport professionally. They have proved prophetic, with An spending a total of 121 weeks at the summit of the world rankings, including 62 consecutive weeks and counting.

It now looks inevitable that the Gwangju native will be named BWF Women’s Singles Player of the Year for the third consecutive time, but one thing is certain – she is nowhere near done.

She told Olympics.com: “I’m motivated by the desire to show my best performances to the people who follow my games consistently.

“That also makes me enjoy the game more, and then good results will follow. That’s why I keep pushing myself harder.”