Peter-Gade Christensen
PETALING JAYA: Danish legend Peter Gade Christensen has joined two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen's coaching team and Axelsen's former coach Kenneth Jonassen is expected to make his way to Malaysia.
Axelsen announced that he will be training under the 47-year-old as well as current coach and father-in-law Henrik P. K. Rohde.
The move to work with Gade shows that the 30-year-old has no intentions of slowing down any time soon despite winning his second Olympic gold in the men's singles in Paris in August.
"After winning my second Olympic gold in Paris, it is now the right time to make a few changes to my setup," said Axelsen via social media.
"I'm extremely happy to announce that Peter Gade will join my coaching team and, together with P. K. Rohde, will take care of my training and coaching moving forward.
"I will also be practising at the Yonex Peter Gade Academy when I'm in Denmark preparing for some of the tournaments, which I'm looking forward to as well.
"I was fortunate to practise with Peter for the last part of his career and with his badminton knowledge combined with his experience playing into his 30's, I'm confident that he will be able to help me tackle some of the challenges I will face," added Axelsen.
Gade was Denmark's No. 1 player during his playing days and captured silver in the World Championships in 2001.
Axelsen is out to end his year on a high under Gade when he competes in the China Masters from Tuesday and the World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou.
"I know that with Peter and Rohde I will have a fantastic coaching team, who will be doing everything in their power to support me as an athlete," said Axelsen.
"Now, I will focus on ending 2024 in a strong fashion and then we are ready for another exciting year in 2025!"
While Axelsen's coaching team have been finalised, there are strong speculation that former Danish national coach Jonassen, is heading to Malaysia to coach the singles players.
He is tipped to replace Hendrawan of Indonesia in taking care of the men's singles team led by Leong Jun Hao.
