An Se-young

An Se-young (; born 5 February 2002) is a South Korean badminton player, who won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the women's singles event. She was named 2019's Most Promising Player of the Year and 2023's Female Player of the Year by the BWF. She won the gold medals at the 2023 and 2026 World Championships, making history as the first Korean women's singles player to win the World Championships title. She then clinched the women's singles gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. An was also a part of South Korea's gold medal winning teams at the 2022 and 2026 Uber Cup as well at the 2022 Asian Games.

In 2018, An was selected to join the national team and became the first junior high school student on the South Korean national team. She was part of the national junior team that won the mixed team title at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. An later represented her country at the 2018 Uber Cup in Bangkok and Asian Games in Jakarta, helping the team win a bronze medal in the former event. In 2019, she clinched her first BWF World Tour title at the Super 300 New Zealand Open, beating the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui in the final.

Career An Se-young entered her first international competition when she was only 13 years old, participating in the 2015 Asian Junior Championships where she finished as quarter-finalist in the U15 girls' singles and doubles. An won her first international junior title at the U15 Korea Junior Open in 2015. An increasingly dominated the 2016 U15 junior tournaments, winning the girls' singles title at the Jakarta Open Junior International, Jaya Raya Junior Grand Prix, Asian Junior Championships, and Korea Junior Open; she also won the women's doubles title at the Jaya Raya Junior Grand Prix and the Korea Junior Open.

In 2017, An Se-young competed in the U17 and U19 competitions, where she managed to win the U17 Korea Junior Open, but at the Asian and World Junior Championships, she was unable to win any medals in the individual event. Meanwhile, in the mixed team, An succeeded in helping her team win the Asian junior mixed team title and also won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships.

She was then entrusted to strengthen the Korean team at the 2018 Asian Games, but did not manage to win any medals in the individual or team events. In the 2018 Indonesia International Challenge, An managed to reach the final round. She then won her first senior international title at the 2018 Irish Open, beating compatriot Kim Ga-eun in the final.

An Se-young won her maiden World Tour title at the 2019 New Zealand Open, beating the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui of China in the final. Akita Masters, French Open, and Korea Masters. The continuously improving performance she displayed in 2019 brought her into the women's singles top 10 in the BWF world rankings. In recognition of her achievements, the BWF awarded her the 2019 Most Promising Player of the Year.

Due to COVID-19, An only participated in five tournaments in 2020, with her best result being runner-up at the Thailand Masters, and together with the national team winning a silver medal at the Asian Women's Team Championship. In 2021, in her debut at the Olympic Games, she was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Chen Yufei. An then made her first final in a Super 1000 tournament, the Denmark Open, but she was unable to finish the match, and had to settle for runner-up to Akane Yamaguchi. At the Indonesia badminton festival held in Bali, An managed to win all three tournaments after in the final she beats Yamaguchi in the Indonesia Masters, Ratchanok Intanon in the Indonesia Open, and P. V. Sindhu in the World Tour Finals.

In 2022, An reached five finals in the BWF World Tour, winning the Korea Open, Malaysia Masters, and the Australian Open; and also finished as runners-up in the All England and Japan Opens. She also claimed the bronze medals in the women's singles at the Asian and World Championships. Together with the South Korean women's team, she clinched the Uber Cup. and topped the women's singles ranking on 1 August 2023.

In the first half of 2024 season, An played seven individual tournaments, won 3 titles in the Malaysia, French, and the Singapore Opens, and also became finalist in the Indonesia Open. An clinched the gold medal in the women's singles final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, defeating China's He Bingjiao 2–0, marking South Korea's first gold in this event since Bang Soo-hyun's victory in 1996. Following her triumphant gold medal victory at the Paris 2024 Olympics, An Se-young entered a period of both reflection and recovery. After a brief hiatus to address long-standing injury concerns and navigating internal discussions with the Badminton Korea Association (BKA), she made a highly anticipated return to the international circuit at the Denmark Open, where she impressively reached the final and secured the runner-up position. Continuing her post-Olympic momentum, she showcased her unwavering resilience by clinching the title at the China Masters. She concluded her competitive season by finish as the semi-finalist in the World Tour Finals in December. An was honored as the BWF Female Player of the Year for the second year in a row. In the next tournament in March, An is winning a tournament in France, the Orléans Masters. Carrying the momentum of that win, An won the All England Open the next week, gaining her second Super 1000 titles of the year. An continued her pursuit for S1000 "clean sweep" by winning the Indonesia Open in June. The next month, An extended her good form, winning the Japan Open. An lost in two successive semi-finals in China Open and 2025 BWF World Championships after that. An recovered well after those two tournament and snatched her second China Masters title. In October 2025, An was elected as BWF Athletes' Commission. An failed to win in her home tournament Korea Open, but bounced back by snatching both Denmark Open and French Open titles in two consecutive weeks. An broke her own record of most titles in one season for the women's singles in November when she won her tenth title which was Australian Open. An also sealed the season with a World Tour Finals win in December, making it her eleventh title of the year, equalling the long-lasting record of Kento Momota. For her achievements, she also awarded as Women's Singles Player of the Year for the third consecutive time and Women's Player's Player of the Year by the BWF.

An maintained her form into 2026 when she won the Malaysia Open for three consecutive years. She then proceed to win the India Open the next week after. The next month, An became the member of Korean women's badminton team that won the Asia Team Championships for the first time ever. In March, An's 36 match winning streak ended as she lost in the final of All England Open against Wang in straight sets. In April, An won her first Asian Championships title, beating Wang in the final in three games. She then led the Korean team to win the 2026 Uber Cup by defeating China in the final. In May, An won the Singapore Open against Yamaguchi in the final where she battled out from 16–19 score in the third game and gained five straight points with no return to win this tournament for the third time. She carried this momentum into June, capturing the Indonesia Open title by defeating Yamaguchi once again in a thrilling final. Two months later, An did not have any problems at the 2026 BWF World Championships as she beat Han Yue in the quarters, Wang Zhiyi in the semis and defeating Yamaguchi in the final, all in two games.

is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 New Zealand Open Super 300 Li Xuerui 21–19, 21–15 Winner 2019 Akita Masters Super 100 Haruko Suzuki 21–10, 17–21, 21–14 Winner 2023 India Open Super 750 Akane Yamaguchi 15–21, 21–16, 21–12 Winner 2023 Indonesia Masters Super 500 Carolina Marín 18–21, 21–18, 21–13 Winner 2023 German Open Super 300 Akane Yamaguchi 11–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2023 All England Open Super 1000 Chen Yufei 21–17, 10–21, 21–19 Winner 2023 Thailand Open Super 500 He Bingjiao 21–10, 21–19 Winner 2023 Singapore Open Super 750 Akane Yamaguchi 21–16, 21–14 Winner 2023 Korea Open Super 500 Tai Tzu-ying 21–9, 21–15 Winner 2023 Japan Open Super 750 He Bingjiao 21–15, 21–11 Winner 2023 China Open Super 1000 Akane Yamaguchi 21–10, 21–19 Winner 2024 Malaysia Open Super 1000 Tai Tzu-ying 10–21, 21–10, 21–18 Winner 2024 French Open Super 750 Akane Yamaguchi 18–21, 21–13, 21–10 Winner 2024 Singapore Open Super 750 Chen Yufei 21–19, 16–21, 21–12 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament

Performance timeline

National team Junior level Team events 2017 Ref Asian Junior Championships G World Junior Championships B

Senior level Team events 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Ref Asia Team Championships B NH S NH A NH A NH G Asian Games QF NH G NH Uber Cup B NH B NH G NH B NH G Sudirman Cup NH QF NH B NH S NH S NH

Individual competitions Women's singles Junior level

Senior level Events 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Ref Asian Championships A NH B S QF A G Asian Games 1R NH G NH World Championships NH QF B G NH B G Olympic Games NH QF NH G NH

Women's doubles

Record against selected opponents Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 2026 BWF World Championships.

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Chen Yufei 31 17 14 +3 Han Yue 12 10 2 +8 He Bingjiao 14 9 5 +4 Li Xuerui 1 1 0 +1 Wang Zhiyi 26 21 5 +16 Zhang Yiman 3 3 0 +3 Tai Tzu-ying 15 12 3 +9 Yip Pui Yin 1 1 0 +1 Saina Nehwal 2 1 1 0 P. V. Sindhu 10 10 0 +10

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 11 11 0 +11 Putri Kusuma Wardani 10 10 0 +10 Aya Ohori 6 6 0 +6 Nozomi Okuhara 5 5 0 +5 Akane Yamaguchi 35 20 15 +5 Sung Ji-hyun 5 2 3 –1 Carolina Marín 10 6 4 +2 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 2 2 0 +2 Ratchanok Intanon 15 14 1 +13 Pornpawee Chochuwong 13 13 0 +13