Kirsty Gilmour

Kirsty Gilmour (born 21 September 1993) is a Scottish badminton player who represents both Scotland and Great Britain. She is the first ever European champion in badminton from Scotland.

Career Gilmour won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, losing out to Michelle Li of Canada in the final and becoming the first Scottish player to reach the women's singles finals at the Commonwealth Games. She jointly won Scottish Young Sports Personality of the Year 2012 with swimmer Craig Benson.

On 1 May 2016, Gilmour went down fighting to Carolina Marín, in the finals of the European Championship held in La Roche-sur-Yon, settling for the silver medal.

Making a second appearance at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Gilmour, the eleventh seed, won her opening match against the unseeded Sabrina Jaquet in straight games. However, she lost her second match against the world No. 28 Linda Zetchiri 21–12, 17–21, 16–21, thereby making an exit at the group stage.

In 2017, she made it back into the final round of the European Championship in Kolding, Denmark but her pace was stopped by defending champion Carolina Marín with score 14–21, 12–21. Gilmour earned a silver medal.

Gilmour represented Great Britain at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, going out in the group stages after defeating Mahoor Shahzad of Azerbaijan but losing to Japanese fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she again went out in the group stages after winning her opening match against Keisha Fatimah Azzahra from Azerbaijan then losing to China's number six seed He Bingjiao.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games Women's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2014 Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Michelle Li 14–21, 7–21 Silver Silver 2024 Saarlandhalle, Saarbrücken, Germany Carolina Marín 11–21, 18–21 Silver Silver 2025 Forum, Horsens, Denmark Line Kjærsfeldt 16–21, 17–21 Silver Silver 2026 Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain Line Kjærsfeldt 21–17, 21–15 Gold Gold

Commonwealth Youth Games Girls' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2011 National Sports Centre, Douglas, Isle of Man Yang Li Lian 21–16, 22–20 Bronze Bronze

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 2 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, 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 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result 2018 Scottish Open Super 100 Line Kjærsfeldt 21–16, 18–21, 21–18 Winner 2019 Orléans Masters Super 100 Saena Kawakami 8–21, 21–18, 16–21 Runner-up 2019 Russian Open Super 100 Pai Yu-po 21–9, 19–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2020 SaarLorLux Open Super 100 Yvonne Li 21–10, 21–17 Winner

BWF Grand Prix (2 titles, 6 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.

Women's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2013 London Open Carolina Marín 19–21, 9–21 Runner-up 2013 Scottish Open Carolina Marín 14–21, 21–11, 13–21 Runner-up 2015 Dutch Open Karin Schnaase 21–16, 21–13 Winner 2015 Scottish Open Line Kjærsfeldt 21–16, 16–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2015 U.S. Grand Prix Pai Yu-po 21–18, 15–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2016 Malaysia Masters P. V. Sindhu 15–21, 9–21 Runner-up 2017 Canada Open Saena Kawakami 21–19, 19–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2017 Scottish Open Mia Blichfeldt 23–21, 21–12 Winner BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (11 titles, 6 runners-up) Women's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2012 Polish International Panuga Riou 21–12, 21–12 Winner 2012 Czech International Sashina Vignes Waran 21–18, 10–21, 21–13 Winner 2012 Swiss International Millicent Wiranto 24–22, 21–17 Winner 2013 Czech International Cheng Chi-ya 21–18, 21–10 Winner 2014 Swedish Masters Line Kjærsfeldt 24–22, 12–21, 21–10 Winner 2014 Spanish Open Carolina Marín 21–19, 21–18 Winner 2015 Swedish Masters Beatriz Corrales 21–18, 21–19 Winner 2015 Belgian International Goh Jin Wei 15–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2015 Prague Open Linda Zechiri 21–16, 21–14 Winner 2017 Austrian Open Fabienne Deprez 21–17, 21–9 Winner 2017 Orleans International Lee Ying Ying 22–20, 21–11 Winner 2019 Spanish International Phittayaporn Chaiwan 12–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2025 Scottish Open Kim Joo-eun 21–15, 17–21, 21–11 Winner

Women's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2012 Czech International Jillie Cooper Heather Olver Kate Robertshaw 16–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2012 Welsh International Jillie Cooper Lauren Smith Gabrielle White 7–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2013 Czech International Jillie Cooper Imogen Bankier Petya Nedelcheva 6–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2014 Spanish Open Imogen Bankier Gabriela Stoeva Stefani Stoeva 14–21, 9–21 Runner-up BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists. Accurate as of 28 November 2022.

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Petya Nedelcheva 7 4 3 +1 Chen Yufei 1 0 1 –1 He Bingjiao 4 2 2 0 Li Xuerui 1 0 1 –1 Wang Shixian 2 0 2 –2 Wang Yihan 1 0 1 –1 Zhang Yiman 1 1 0 +1 Tai Tzu-ying 5 0 5 –5 Saina Nehwal 7 0 7 –7 P. V. Sindhu 2 1 1 0

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Lindaweni Fanetri 1 1 0 +1 Minatsu Mitani 2 0 2 –2 Nozomi Okuhara 2 0 2 –2 Akane Yamaguchi 4 0 4 –4 An Se-young 5 0 5 –5 Bae Yeon-ju 2 0 2 –2 Sung Ji-hyun 2 0 2 –2 Carolina Marín 10 2 8 –6 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 3 0 3 –3 Ratchanok Intanon 9 1 8 –7

Personal life Gilmour is currently based in Glasgow. Kirsty Gilmour studied at University of the West of Scotland's Ayr Campus graduating with a BA in Creative Industries Practice in 2015.

Gilmour is openly lesbian and uses she/her and they/them pronouns. She is currently the only openly LGBT badminton player to be ranked in the top 100 of any event and is one of very few openly LGBT professional badminton players.