Hans-Kristian Vittinghus

Hans-Kristian Vittinghus
Hans-Kristian Vittinghus at the 2013 French Super Series.
Personal information
Country	Denmark
Born	(1986-01-16) 16 January 1986 (age 39) Frederikshavn, Denmark
Residence	Valby, Denmark
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Years active	2005–2023
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Career record	359 wins, 232 losses
Highest ranking	8 (22 January 2015)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing   Denmark Thomas Cup 2016 Kunshan Men's team 2012 Wuhan Men's team 2018 Bangkok Men's team 2020 Aarhus Men's team 2022 Bangkok Men's team European Championships 2017 Kolding Men's singles 2021 Kyiv Men's singles European Mixed Team Championships 2011 Amsterdam Mixed team 2015 Leuven Mixed team 2017 Lubin Mixed team 2023 Aire-sur-la-Lys Mixed team 2013 Moscow Mixed team European Men's Team Championships 2008 Almere Men's team 2010 Warsaw Men's team 2012 Amsterdam Men's team 2014 Basel Men's team 2016 Kazan Men's team 2018 Kazan Men's team 2020 Liévin Men's team European Junior Championships 2005 Den Bosch Mixed team 2005 Den Bosch Boys' singles
BWF profile

Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (born 16 January 1986) is a retired Danish badminton player. He was a member of the winning Denmark team at the 2016 Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China. ^[1]

Career

Junior

He won 4 junior national titles, 2 in singles in 2003 and 2005 and 2 in men's doubles in 1999 and 2003. As a part of the Danish Under 19 national team, he won the gold medal at the Under 19 European Team Championships. He also won a bronze medal in the individual event in men's singles.

Senior

After becoming a senior player in the summer of 2005, he won his first international title in November 2006, beating former world no. 1, M. Roslin Hashim in the final of the Norwegian International Championships. Since then he has recaptured the title in Norway twice, in 2009 and 2010.

He also won the Turkiye International in 2007, Dutch International in 2008 & 2011, ^[2] Spanish Open in 2009 and 2013, Irish International in 2010, Belgian International in 2014 and Denmark International in 2019.

He also plays in the Danish Badminton League. He plays as the first singles for Højbjerg Badminton. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus started playing badminton at the age of five in Solrød Strand Badmintonklub.

In November 2015, he won the Scottish Grand Prix in Glasgow, Scotland, against English Rajiv Ouseph as the no.1 seed, 21–19, 11–21, 21–16. ^[3]

In June 2016, he beat Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia to win the first Thomas Cup trophy for Denmark. He later won his first BWF Super Series title, the Australian Open Super Series, beating Jeon Hyeok-jin from Korea 21–16, 19–21, 21–11. ^[4]

In January 2021, Vittinghus reached his first major final since the Dubai World Superseries Finals title clash in 2014 ^[5] at the Super 1000 Thailand Open where he came runner up to fellow compatriot, Viktor Axelsen. ^[6]

Vittinghus first hinted at retirement in 2022 when he made the decision to post an announcement on social media. ^[7] Although Vittinghus would officially retire from badminton at the age of 37 in November 2023, after competing in his last tournament at the Norwegian International. ^[8]

Personal life

Vittinghus married Norwegian dressage rider Selina Hundstuen Solberg on 11 September 2016. ^{[9] [10]} They have one child together, named Vincent. ^[11]

Vittinghus hosts his own podcast called A Year On Tour with Vittinghus, where he talks about his experience on tournaments and various BWF World Tour events he has participated in. ^[12] He also co-hosts another podcast together with fellow Danish badminton player Anders Antonsen, called The Badminton Experience, where they cover many different topics on badminton, ranging from players and technical aspects of the game. They also host Q&A sessions from time to time, ^{[13] [14]} and sometimes, they invite other badminton players to come on the podcasts as guests, to share their experience and answer questions from the hosts. Notable players that have been on the podcast include Lee Zii Jia, ^[15] Greysia Polli, ^[16] Anthony Sinisuka Ginting ^[17] and former Danish Men's singles player Peter Gade. ^[18]

Achievements

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2017	Sydbank Arena, Kolding, Denmark	Rajiv Ouseph	21–18, 21–23, 16–21	Bronze
2021	Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Ukraine	Anders Antonsen	14–21, 17–21	Bronze

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	De Maaspoort, Den Bosch, Netherlands	Dieter Domke	10–15, 7–15	Bronze

BWF World Tour (1 runner-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, ^[19] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. ^[20]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result
2020 (II)	Thailand Open	Super 1000	Viktor Axelsen	11–21, 7–21	Runner-up

BWF Superseries (1 title, 1 runner-up)

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, ^[21] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. ^[22] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Dubai World Superseries Finals	Chen Long	16–21, 10–21	Runner-up
2016	Australian Open	Jeon Hyeok-jin	21–16, 19–21, 21–11	Winner

  BWF Superseries Finals tournament

  BWF Superseries Premier tournament

  BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (2 titles, 4 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Bitburger Open	Chen Long	3–21, 21–12, 9–21	Runner-up
2011	Bitburger Open	Wang Zhengming	21–18, 21–10	Winner
2013	London Grand Prix Gold	Tian Houwei	20–22, 16–21	Runner-up
2014	German Open	Arvind Bhat	22–24, 21–19, 11–21	Runner-up
2015	U.S. Open	Lee Chong Wei	20–22, 12–21	Runner-up
2015	Scottish Open	Rajiv Ouseph	21–19, 11–21, 21–16	Winner

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (11 titles, 1 runner-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Norwegian International	Muhammad Roslin Hashim	22–20, 6–21, 21–16	Winner
2007	Turkiye International	Petr Koukal	23–21, 21–15	Winner
2008	Dutch International	Wu Yunyong	21–12, 21–18	Winner
2009	Norwegian International	Marc Zwiebler	15–21, 21–18, 21–19	Winner
2009	Spanish Open	Kashyap Parupalli	21–10, 21–16	Winner
2010	Norwegian International	Henri Hurskainen	21–16, 19–21, 21–8	Winner
2010	Irish International	Pablo Abián	21–13, 14–21, 23–21	Winner
2011	Dutch International	Ville Lång	18–21, 21–15, 21–4	Winner
2011	Denmark International	Jan Ø. Jørgensen	15–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2013	Spanish Open	Joachim Persson	21–9, 21–16	Winner
2014	Belgian International	Marc Zwiebler	11–8, 10–11, 11–9, 11–9	Winner
2019	Denmark International	Kai Schäfer	21–16, 21–18	Winner

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

References

1. "Denmark wins world badminton team title". The Local . Retrieved 30 January 2017.
2. "Victor Dutch International 2008 winners". Tournament Software. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
3. "Badminton – Hans-Kristian Vittinghus vs Rajiv Ouseph (MS, Final) – Scottish Open 2015". Youtube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
4. Rösler, Manuel. "First Superseries glory for Vittinghus". Badminton Europe. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
5. "TOYOTA Thailand Open: Vittinghus' Dream Run Continues". bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
6. BWF TV (2021-01-24). TOYOTA Thailand Open | A battle-hardened Vittinghus versus last week’s champion Axelsen . Retrieved 2025-02-05– via YouTube.
7. Vittinghus, Hans-Kristian Solberg (23 May 2022). "I'm retiring! Not..." Facebook.{{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
8. Vittinghus, Hans-Kristian Solberg (30 August 2023). "What an emotional day..." Facebook.{{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
9. Bach Jensen, Thomas (11 September 2016). "Selina Hundstuen Solberg viet på slottet" (in Danish). Ridehesten.com. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
10. Rasmussen, Claus (20 September 2016). "Bryllupsrejsen må vente for Wittinghus". Sjællands Nyheder (in Danish). Retrieved 12 July 2017.
11. "BadmintonPeople.com – Hans-Kristian Vittinghus: "Becoming a parent is the biggest thing in my life."". Badminton Europe . Retrieved 23 April 2022.
12. "A Year On Tour With Vittinghus – A Badminton Podcast – Badminton Insight". badminton-insight.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
13. "The Badminton Experience". YouTube . Retrieved 23 April 2022.
14. ""I don't hate him" – Antonsen discusses his relationship with Axelsen". 360Badminton. 2 September 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
15. "The Lee Zii Jia Interview – The Badminton Experience EP. 12", YouTube, retrieved 23 April 2022
16. "Greysia Polii the Olympic Champion – The Badminton Experience EP. 13", YouTube, retrieved 23 April 2022
17. "The Anthony Ginting Interview – The Badminton Experience EP.11", YouTube, retrieved 23 April 2022
18. "Gade hails Chong Wei-Lin Dan 2011 final as "one of the most incredible matches"". english.stadiumastro.com. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
19. Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation . Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
20. Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
21. "BWF Launches Super Series". Badminton Australia. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007.
22. "Yonex All England Elevated To BWF Premier Super Series Event". IBadmintonstore. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.

External links

• Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at BWF Badminton.com
• Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at BWF .TournamentSoftware.com ( alternate link ) (archived)