Welcome to day 4 at the 2026 European Championships in Huelva, Spain, and as spectators slowly fill the hall at the Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marin (Carolina Marin Sports Palace), there is a slightly more serious tone to today’s matches. This is because players who win their matches in today’s women’s and mixed doubles categories are guaranteed a medal as the winners move into the semi-finals.
We kicked off the day with a huge upset where Belgian Julien Carraggi beat Dane, Magnus Johannesen, who is seeded 8th in Huelva. It was exceptionally emotional for Julien as yesterday was only his first ever win at a European Championships, and with today’s win, he’s now qualified for the quarterfinals and is raring to go! “I will just go all in for the quarterfinal”, quipped Julien in his post-match interview.
On the next court, men’s doubles top seed, Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, also kicked off their campaign against Spanish home players, Jacobo Fernandez and Alberto Perals, coming out unscathed with a scoreline of 21-16, 21-14. French men’s singles, 7th seed, Arnaud Merkle, slogged it out with Englishman, Harry Huang in a match lasting over an hour long where Arnaud had to come back from behind after losing the first set to be able to take the win in three sets. Final score, 20-22, 21-14, 21-13. Defending champion, Alex Lanier also had no issue coming through previous bronze medalist, Aria Dinata of Croatia in straight sets, 21-18 and 21-16.
The first medals of this edition of the European Championships were secured by Ukrainian ladies, Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr, when they edged the English pair, Abbygael Harris and Lizzie Tolman, 21-19 and 21-17. This is the second European medal that Polina and Yevheniia have secured this year, following their medal at the European Team Championships earlier in the year.
Another player who made history was Thuc Phuong Nguyen of Germany, who won her match with partner Marvin Seidel, overcoming Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch of Denmark. Qualifying for the semi-finals and securing at least a bronze medal means Germany’s medal drought at European Championships over the last few years has finally ended. Marvin, a previous winner in the men’s doubles category back in the 2022 European Championships will be leaning on his experience in hope to be able to bring home another title with Thuc come Saturday.
Other mixed doubles matches saw defending champions, and Danes, Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund, dispatch their countrymen, Rasmus Espersen and Amalie Cecilie Kudsk, in two sets, 21-14 and 21-15. Both Jesper and Amalie were incredibly relaxed on court and were execute freely which allowed them to be in control of the match across both sets. Jesper also noted in his post-match interview that this tournament will be the last they play as a pair for a while, as Amalie is currently pregnant and will take a break from badminton to focus on family life after the tournament. They will be facing Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen of England next, as the English pair continued their fine run after beating the Dutch pair, Brian Wassink and Debora Jille, 21-11 and 21-13. This will also be Callum and Estelle’s first European Championships medal, and it’ll be a confidence boost for the English pair moving forward.
Tomorrow is a huge day for all players involved, as every single match involves players securing a medal or upgrading the colour of their medals as we will see quarterfinal action from the men’s and women’s singles as well as the men’s doubles. The women’s and mixed doubles categories will see players duking it out to determine who gets an upgrade of their medals to fight out for gold and silver come finals day.
You can follow all the action on TV (TV stations showing the 2026 European Championships HERE) or livestream it on www.badmintoneurope.tv as well as the livescore ticker on www.badmintoneurope.com.
See you tomorrow!
