Christinna Pedersen appointed to bolster performance team at Badminton England
At the start of the week, we were very proud to reveal a new transformative approach to our Performance programme at Badminton England.
Now at the end of the week, we are so excited to introduce a new addition to our coaching staff. And in the world of badminton coaching, names don’t come much bigger!
To supplement the new structure and the brand-new roles which have been announced this week, Christinna Pedersen has joined Badminton England as Performance Coach.
Pedersen will be courtside at the National Badminton Centre for one four-day week every month to provide specialist coaching expertise to the programme. Part-funded by GB Badminton, Christinna’s role will be to develop both our coaches and athletes with a particular focus on our three doubles disciplines, to develop performance standards across those disciplines and to ensure there is consistency in the delivery of our programme by integrating the right behaviours throughout the performance structure.
Aalborg-born Pedersen comes to court with not only a wealth of experience but a raft of doubles titles and trophies on her decorated playing CV.
A mixed doubles partnership with compatriot Joachim Fischer Nielsen was formed in 2008 and the duo won two European mixed doubles titles, bronze at both the 2009 and 2014 World Championships as well as bronze at the London 2012 Olympics Games.
On the BWF circuit, they produced some phenomenal results – the world number one pairing winning a total of three World Superseries Finals and a stunning ten Superseries titles; the first and last of those titles both coming in their homeland at the 2008 and 2016 Denmark Open. And partnering Mathias Christiansen, Pedersen earned a Mixed Doubles World Tour triumph at the Super 500 India Open in 2018.
In women’s doubles, Pedersen paired with Kamilla Rytter Juhl for eight years. A silver medal at the 2015 World Championships was sandwiched between and a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2013 and 2018. The duo won a total of four European women’s doubles titles together, one World Superseries Final, five Superseries trophies and a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics – becoming the first Europeans to ever compete in an Olympic women’s doubles final.
In this country, Pedersen reached the final of The YONEX All England Open twice – losing to Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto with Nielsen in 2016 before earning runners-up status alongside Rytter Juhl when edged out by South Korean pairing Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee the following year. But in 2018, Pedersen did etch her name into All England history with a 21-19, 21-18 win over Japanese women’s doubles pair Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.
Can Christinna also offer our junior players with valuable insight into how to navigate the path to senior elite competition? Of course she can! Nearly 20 years ago, she came away from Den Bosch in Netherlands with two gold medals and one silver, winning the Mixed Doubles event as well as the Mixed Team triumph for Denmark at the European Junior Badminton Championships.
Badminton England and GB Badminton are absolutely delighted to have added the expertise of Christinna Pedersen to our coaching corner.
