Kirsten Thorndahl

Kirsten Thorndahl (also known as 'Kirsten Granlund; 9 April 1928 – 21 September 2007) was a Danish badminton player. She reached the All England final 17 times and represented Denmark at the Uber Cup. Thorndahl had won eleven All England titles. She became the first player to become an All England Open champion in all three categories: women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles in the same year. Despite sweeping the boards in 1948, Thorndahl did not gained so much success in the singles department despite winning 2 more national championships in 1947 and 1951 which led her to abandon the discipline altogether. She claimed she was too nervous playing alone in the court during singles and it was more physically demanded.