In celebration of Carolina Marin’s remarkable career, here is a selection of some of her most impressive campaigns.
Rio 2016 Olympics
Final: Bt Pusarla V. Sindhu 19-21 21-12 21-15
The match that she will be most remembered for. Despite arriving at Rio 2016 as a two-time world champion, Marin’s form in the run-up to the Olympics hadn’t been exceptional, and there were several equal contenders. The Spaniard made the final with straight-games wins, including over defending champion Li Xue Rui in the semifinals. The final, against Pusarla, was a terrific physical battle all the way, with neither player holding back. Despite an opening game reverse, Marin fought her way back, eventually hauling past her battling opponent, 19-21 21-12 21-15.
World Championships 2014
Final: Bt Li Xue Rui 17-21 21-17 21-18
Marin’s winning moment at the BWF World Championships 2014.
Marin’s prime accomplishment, going into the World Championships 2014, was the European title – she hadn’t even won a Superseries. Yet, in the course of a stunning week, the then-underrated Spaniard would beat former world champion Wang Yihan, rising star Tai Tzu Ying, her formidable peer Pusarla, and then, against all odds, reigning Olympic champion Li with a display of blinding speed and power, unfazed by the occasion. A victory whose significance would reverberate in badminton for a long time to come.
World Championships 2015
Final: Bt Saina Nehwal 21-16 21-19
There was a lot on the line for Marin as she headed to Jakarta to defend her World Championships crown. It turned out to be a testy week, starting with her first match against Tee Jing Yi, and then against Pai Yu Po, both of whom took her the distance. After a close win over Wang Shixian, Marin was in trouble against Sung Ji Hyun in the semifinals, only to pull through at the end. However, the Spaniard was altogether a different person in the final. Gone was the tentativeness of the semifinal, and she simply bulldozed her way past Nehwal, her authoritative straight-games win proving that her feat a year ago was no one-off affair.
World Championships 2018
Final: Bt Pusarla V Sindhu 21-19 21-10
Her most convincing major title. Marin breezed through the first three rounds, shrugged off a game loss to He Bing Jiao in the semifinals, and then, after a close first game against old rival Pusarla, romped through the second to become the most successful women’s singles winner in World Championships history.
China Open 2019
Final: Bt Tai Tzu Ying 14-21 21-17 21-18
A stunning return to title-winning form.
The 2019 China Open campaign was a triumphant first step in her return following ACL surgery to her right knee. Having suffered the injury in January, Marin’s return at the Vietnam Open in September ended in the first round – but the very next week she was to author another great chapter in her career by beating Nozomi Okuhara, Beiwen Zhang, He Bing Jiao, Sayaka Takahashi, and in the final – the in-form Tai. Her last three matches had each gone the distance, with the 14-21 21-17 21-18 result over Tai marking a sensational return among the world’s best.
Malaysia Open 2015
Final: Bt Li Xue Rui 19-21 21-19 21-17
Earlier in the year, Marin had won her first Superseries title – the All England. The Malaysia Open once again saw her at her best, with the final against Li providing a fitting finale. A high-quality, pacy encounter between two of the best attacking players of their time ended with Marin repeating her World Championships result.
Hong Kong Open 2015
Final: Bt Nozomi Okuhara 21-17 18-21 22-20
Marin overcomes the tenacious Okuhara.
Another impressive campaign in which she successively took down players like Pusarla, Akane Yamaguchi, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk and Wang Yihan, before facing a player with a completely different style – the indefatigable runner Okuhara. The match see-sawed all the way. Marin led 18-9 and had six match points at 20-14 but Okuhara made an unlikely comeback to level at 20. The world champion however got a grip of the proceedings at the end, finishing winner in an 85-minute classic.
Indonesia Masters 2020
Final: Lost to Ratchanok Intanon 21-19 11-21 21-18
The Indonesia Masters 2019 was an emotional event for Marin, for it was exactly a year earlier that she’d suffered her ACL injury in the final. Rather remarkably, she set aside the difficult emotions through the week – particularly in the semifinals, when she didn’t falter despite the weight of attendant expectations. A clinical 21-11 21-19 result over He Bing Jiao saw her complete the circle, as it were, earning a shot at the title that had eluded her grasp a year earlier. It took a magnificent effort from Intanon to stymie Marin but the Spaniard had proven that she could rise phoenix-like from any setback.
HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020
Final: Lost to Tai Tzu Ying 21-14 8-21 19-21
With three finals in three weeks during the Asian leg of the HSBC BWF World Tour in Bangkok, it was a spectacular show by Marin in the run-up to her title defence at the Olympics. Having won the YONEX Thailand Open and the TOYOTA Thailand Open – and leading Tai at the death in her third consecutive final, Marin was on the threshold of winning the only major title to have eluded her – the season finale. However, Tai would upstage her at the very end, in a final that showed women’s singles at its very best.
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