What’s the Prime Age for Men’s Doubles Players?

Men’s doubles is explosive and fast. Partnerships need the perfect balance of teamwork, speed, and raw power to be the very best. Now the question is, what age do men’s doubles players perform at their peak? In this post, we’ve gathered data in the top professional tournaments from 2000 to 2021 to determine what the prime age is for men’s doubles. Here are the results.

Statistically, the prime age for men’s doubles players is around 26 years old. Results indicate that men’s doubles players still perform very well up to age 34. Overall, players players from the ages of 23 to 34 have a good chance of winning a major title. Results drop off for ages less than 23 and higher than 34.

To get these results, we collected the ages of all the men’s doubles badminton players that won gold medals at the Yonex All England, World Championships, and Olympic Games from 2000 to 2021. The ages that were used to calculate the results represent the ages at which the players won the tournaments. You can see all of the data visualized and organized in tables below.

Men's Doubles Badminton Gold Medals By Age

As shown above, the most common men’s doubles gold medalist age is 26 years old. However, the average and median ages are 27.4 and 26.5 years old respectively. The spread of the results are quite interesting since there are several spikes in medals as we go higher from the average of 26.5 years. Generally, we would expect a gradual decline from the peak like we see on the left of 26. However, we see spikes at 29 and 34, which seem a bit strange.

What might help explain these spikes is the fact that men’s doubles pairings come with 2 players. Having to work with another player requires a lot of teamwork and partners who have played longer with each other are probably more in sync with each other. Furthermore, having 2 players on a court make it so each player has to cover a smaller portion of the court. While doubles is usually faster paced, it does mean that doubles players do not need to travel as much and have more “breaks” when their partner is the one hitting the shuttle. This might help explain why there are more older players who have won gold medals than what we see in men’s singles.

Here’s all of the major statistics summarized:

Average	27.4
Median	26.5
Minimum	19.5
Maximum	36
Count	82
Standard Deviation	3.8

All England Results

Year	Winner	Age
2000	Ha Tae-kwon	25
2000	Kim Dong-moon	24.5
2001	Tony Gunawan	26
2001	Halim Haryanto	24.5
2002	Ha Tae-kwon	27
2002	Kim Dong-moon	26.5
2003	Candra Wijaya	27.5
2003	Sigit Budiarto	27.5
2004	Jens Eriksen	34
2004	Martin Lundgaard Hansen	31.5
2005	Cai Yun	25
2005	Fu Haifeng	22
2006	Jens Eriksen	36
2006	Martin Lundgaard Hansen	33.5
2007	Koo Kien Keat	21.5
2007	Tan Boon Heong	19.5
2008	Jung Jae-sung	25.5
2008	Lee Yong-dae	19.5
2009	Cai Yun	29
2009	Fu Haifeng	26
2010	Lars Paaske	34
2010	Jonas Rasmussen	32.5
2011	Mathias Boe	30.5
2011	Carsten Mogensen	27.5
2012	Jung Jae-sung	29.5
2012	Lee Yong-dae	23.5
2013	Liu Xiaolong	25
2013	Qiu Zihan	22
2014	Mohammad Ahsan	26.5
2014	Hendra Setiawan	29.5
2015	Mathias Beo	34.5
2015	Carsten Mogensen	31.5
2016	Vladimir Ivanov	28.5
2016	Ivan Sozonov	26.5
2017	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon	26
2017	Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	21.5
2018	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon	27
2018	Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	22.5
2019	Mohammad Ahsan	31.5
2019	Hendra Setiawan	34.5
2020	Hiroyuki Endo	33
2020	Yuta Watanabe	23
2021	Hiroyuki Endo	34
2021	Yuta Watanabe	24

2000	Ha Tae-kwon, Kim Dong-moon	25, 24.5
2001	Tony Gunawan, Halim Haryanto	26, 24.5
2002	Ha Tae-kwon, Kim Dong-moon	27, 26.5
2003	Candra Wijaya, Sigit Budiarto	27.5, 27.5
2004	Jens Eriksen, Martin Lundgaard Hansen	34, 31.5
2005	Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng	25, 22
2006	Jens Eriksen, Martin Lundgaard Hansen	36, 33.5
2007	Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong	21.5, 19.5
2008	Jung Jae-sung, Lee Yong-dae	25.5, 19.5
2009	Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng	29, 26
2010	Lars Paaske, Jonas Rasmussen	34, 32.5
2011	Mathias Boe, Carsten Mogensen	30.5, 27.5
2012	Jung Jae-sung, Lee Yong-dae	29.5, 23.5
2013	Liu Xiaolong, Qiu Zihan	25, 22
2014	Mohammad Ahsan, Hendra Setiawan	26.5, 29.5
2015	Mathias Beo, Carsten Mogensen	34.5, 31.5
2016	Vladimir Ivanov, Ivan Sozonov	28.5, 26.5
2017	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	26, 21.5
2018	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	27, 22.5
2019	Mohammad Ahsan, Hendra Setiawan	31.5, 34.5
2020	Hiroyuki Endo, Yuta Watanabe	33, 23
2021	Hiroyuki Endo, Yuta Watanabe	34, 24

Year	Winner	Age
2000	Ha Tae-kwon Kim Dong-moon	25 24.5
2001	Tony Gunawan Halim Haryanto	26 24.5
2002	Ha Tae-kwon Kim Dong-moon	27 26.5
2003	Candra Wijaya Sigit Budiarto	27.5 27.5
2004	Jens Eriksen Martin Lundgaard Hansen	34 31.5
2005	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	25 22
2006	Jens Eriksen Martin Lundgaard Hansen	36 33.5
2007	Koo Kien Keat Tan Boon Heong	21.5 19.5
2008	Jung Jae-sung Lee Yong-dae	25.5 19.5
2009	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	29 26
2010	Lars Paaske Jonas Rasmussen	34 32.5
2011	Mathias Boe Carsten Mogensen	30.5 27.5
2012	Jung Jae-sung Lee Yong-dae	29.5 23.5
2013	Liu Xiaolong Qiu Zihan	25 22
2014	Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan	26.5 29.5
2015	Mathias Beo Carsten Mogensen	34.5 31.5
2016	Vladimir Ivanov Ivan Sozonov	28.5 26.5
2017	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	26 21.5
2018	Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo	27 22.5
2019	Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan	31.5 34.5
2020	Hiroyuki Endo Yuta Watanabe	33 23
2021	Hiroyuki Endo Yuta Watanabe	34 24

Average	27.5
Median	26.8
Minimum	19.5
Maximum	36
Count	44
Standard Deviation	4.4

World Championships and Olympic Games Results

Years 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 are for the Olympic Games.

Year	Winner	Age
2000	Tony Gunawan	25.5
2000	Candra Wijaya	24
2001	Tony Gunawan	26.5
2001	Halim Haryanto	25
2002	N/A
2003	Lars Paaske	27.5
2003	n	29
2004	Ha Tae-kwon	29.5
2004	Kim Dong-moon	29
2005	Howard Bach	26.5
2005	Tony Gunawan	30.5
2006	Cai Yun	26.5
2006	Fu Haifeng	23
2007	Markis Kido	24
2007	Hendra Setiawan	23
2008	Markis Kido	25
2008	Hendra Setiawan	24
2009	Cai Yun	29.5
2009	Fu Haifeng	25.5
2010	Cai Yun	30.5
2010	Fu Haifeng	26.5
2011	Cai Yun	31.5
2011	Fu Haifeng	27.5
2012	Cai Yun	32.5
2012	Fu Haifeng	28.5
2013	Mohammad Ahsan	26
2013	Hendra Setiawan	29
2014	Ko Sung-hyun	27
2014	Shin Baek-cheol	25
2015	Mohammad Ahsan	28
2015	Hendra Setiawan	31
2016	Zhang Nan	26.5
2016	Fu Haifeng	32.5
2017	Liu Cheng	25.5
2017	Zhang Nan	27.5
2018	Li Junhui	23.5
2018	Liu Yuchen	24
2019	Mohammad Ahsan	32
2019	Hendra Setiawan	35
2020	N/A
2021	Lee Yang	26
2021	Wang Chi-Lin	26

Year	Winner	Age
2000	Tony Gunawan Candra Wijaya	25.5 24
2001	Tony Gunawan Halim Haryanto	26.5 25
2002	N/A
2003	Lars Paaske Jonas Rasmussen	27.5 26
2004	Ha Tae-kwon Kim Dong-moon	29.5 29
2005	Howard Bach Tony Gunawan	26.5 30.5
2006	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	26.5 23
2007	Markis Kido Hendra Setiawan	24 23
2008	Markis Kido Hendra Setiawan	25 24
2009	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	29.5 25.5
2010	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	30.5 26.5
2011	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	31.5 27.5
2012	Cai Yun Fu Haifeng	32.5 28.5
2013	Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan	26 29
2014	Ko Sung-hyun Shin Baek-cheol	27 25
2015	Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan	28 31
2016	Zhang Nan Fu Haifeng	26.5 32.5
2017	Liu Cheng Zhang Nan	25.5 27.5
2018	Li Junhui Liu Yuchen	23.5 24
2019	Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan	32 35
2020	N/A
2021	Lee Yang Wang Chi-Lin	26 26

Average	27.4
Median	26.5
Minimum	23
Maximum	35
Count	38
Standard Deviation	3