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Lin Chun Yi shocked the badminton world at the 2026 All England with a dominant run against top players like Jonatan Christie and Kunlavut Vitidsarn. But what actually changed in his game? In this video, we break down Lin Chun Yi’s footwork, split step timing, and rhythm control to explain how he evolved from a Super 300 level player into a true world-class contender. Learn the key badminton techniques behind his improved defense, consistency, and explosive movement. If you want to improve your footwork, smash setup, and on-court rhythm, this analysis will help take your game to the next level.
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0:00
Lin Chun-Yi is your 2026 All England
0:02
men's singles winner, and he looked
0:03
nearly unstoppable.
0:06
On his way to the win, he took down big
0:08
names including Indonesia's top player
0:10
and world number four,
0:12
Jonathan Christie,
0:14
World Tour Finals winner,
0:16
Christo Popov,
0:18
and the current world number one,
0:20
Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
0:29
And out of the five matches that Lin
0:30
Chun-Yi played,
0:32
he only dropped one game to Kunlavut
0:33
Vitidsarn.
0:35
This All England win now puts him at his
0:37
personal highest ranking ever, at number
0:40
eight in the world.
0:42
It also feels like that performance is
0:43
here to stay.
0:45
In 2026, Lin Chun-Yi has already won
0:47
both the Super 750 India Open and Super
0:50
1000 All England, and there's something
0:52
new about his gameplay that will make
0:54
him particularly dangerous if he
0:55
continues to improve on it.
1:01
Lin Chun-Yi has been a good player,
1:03
but never really a great player until
1:05
now.
1:06
If we look back at his history to when
1:07
he first started competing
1:08
internationally,
1:09
we'll see that he has been good,
1:12
but not really good enough to
1:13
consistently contest the top players.
1:16
He had consistently won at the challenge
1:18
and series levels enough to quickly push
1:19
him higher, but for a while,
1:22
Lin Chun-Yi's gameplay seemed to be
1:24
stuck at the Super 300 level.
1:27
He could occasionally pull the win at
1:28
these Super 300 and 100 tournaments and
1:31
upset some top players on a good day,
1:33
but consistently winning these Super 500
1:35
tournaments and higher
1:37
was a struggle.
1:39
And to some,
1:40
it might have felt as if Lin Chun-Yi
1:42
peaked at that Super 300 level,
1:45
especially as players younger than him
1:46
have began to overtake him.
1:48
In fact, Lin Chun-Yi's record against
1:50
Kodai Naraoka is actually 1 to 8.
1:54
Against all odds, however,
1:56
something has clicked for Lin Chun-yi.
1:59
And he began to rapidly improve from a
2:00
player contesting top spots to a top
2:02
player himself.
2:05
Lin Chun-yi is known for his explosive
2:07
smashes
2:08
that all opponents have difficulty
2:10
defending against.
2:12
We talked previously about how this was
2:14
his weapon
2:16
and something that always made Lin
2:17
Chun-yi hard to play against
2:19
because you had to uniquely prepare for
2:21
it.
2:23
That weapon was not enough by itself.
2:26
And it wasn't even enough when in
2:27
combination with some Lin Chun-yi's
2:29
other strong skills like his front court
2:31
pushes.
2:32
What you would have noticed while
2:33
watching Lin Chun-yi's past games was
2:35
that if the opponent could manage to
2:36
defend against Lin's smashes or find a
2:39
way to prevent him from playing them as
2:40
often, Lin Chun-yi would end up making a
2:42
lot more mistakes.
2:45
And if you've seen another video we made
2:47
in the past
2:48
about why Taiwanese badminton players
2:50
have struggled, you'll know that one of
2:52
the problems is their intention to
2:54
continuously create opportunities to
2:56
attack and therein
2:58
>> [music]
2:58
>> a lack of willingness to play defense.
3:03
Lin Chun-yi has made great strides in
3:04
this sense
3:06
where his improved defensive
3:07
capabilities combined with his elite
3:08
attacking skills make him particularly
3:11
dangerous.
3:13
He's a much more well-rounded player now
3:15
and there's a specific adjustment in his
3:16
footwork that has made his defensive
3:18
capabilities
3:20
much better.
3:25
A lot of badminton players and coaches
3:27
work so much on ways to score points and
3:29
beat your opponent
3:31
that we forget to develop arguably a
3:33
more important aspect in not losing.
3:36
An example of what this means is that
3:38
coaches and players, including
3:39
ourselves, might spend a ton of time
3:41
looking at how to break your opponent's
3:43
rhythm,
3:44
get opportunities to smash, or develop
3:46
certain shots to prevent them from
3:47
attacking
3:49
that we often forget about developing
3:50
the skills to make ourselves play well
3:53
regardless of the situation.
3:55
What Lin Chun-Yi has found in his wins
3:56
is a stronger sense of maintaining his
3:58
own rhythm.
3:59
Instead of looking to always pressure
4:00
and break your opponent's rhythm, a
4:02
different mindset you can have is to
4:03
play shots that allow you to maintain
4:05
smooth movement on court.
4:08
Lin Chun-Yi has a preferred rhythm on
4:10
court that's best shown rather than
4:11
explained.
4:53
What you'll notice when comparing Lin
4:54
Chun-Yi's current footwork and rhythm
4:57
is that he has changed his recovery
4:59
footwork to sync up better with his
5:00
split step.
5:17
His goal is to actually start his split
5:19
step before or while his opponent is
5:22
swinging
5:23
so that when he lands and pushes off
5:25
it's timed better accordingly to his
5:27
opponent's hitting timing.
5:48
In contrast
5:49
>> of him
5:49
>> there were more moments where Lin
5:51
Chun-yi's footwork rhythm was scrambled,
5:53
where multiple steps messed up his split
5:55
step initiation that resulted in late or
5:58
weaker push-offs. [music]
6:04
This is a big reason why his defense
6:05
wasn't as good before.
6:08
Smashes at the pro level are at the
6:09
speed where a second
6:11
or a few millisecond difference in your
6:13
split step timing can lead to returning
6:15
the shuttle or missing it.
6:19
Additionally,
6:21
poor split step timing can lead to worse
6:23
control of other shots,
6:25
which is why a previous version of Lin
6:28
Chun-yi had consistency issues.
6:31
Great rally again.
6:32
>> This was seen less at the 2026 India and
6:35
All England Opens.
6:36
Lin Chun-yi's control was often far
6:38
better, and his defensive play was much
6:40
sharper.
6:42
You can even compare this to the German
6:44
Open, where he lost to Christo Popov in
6:46
the semifinals.
6:49
The playing conditions were much faster,
6:51
and it was more difficult for Lin
6:53
Chun-yi to control the shuttle, and that
6:55
affected his ability to maintain his
6:56
rhythm on court.
6:58
A lot of the times he would push, only
7:00
to have Christo moving quickly into a
7:01
smash that didn't give Lin the time to
7:03
complete his full split step and
7:05
maintain his rhythm.
7:08
On that note, we wanted to take a deeper
7:10
look at split steps and explain how
7:12
Lin's bigger split step has actually
7:14
been key to his success.
7:17
Players will often learn that the split
7:18
step should come in the moment right
7:20
after the shuttle leaves your opponent's
7:21
racket.
7:22
But few players will actually learn
7:24
exactly how to do this, even at the
7:26
elite level.
7:26
>> it, to do that?
7:32
Badminton often doesn't have the same
7:33
academic depth in sports science studies
7:35
as other sports.
7:37
But the split step
7:38
is something that's common in many other
7:41
sports and well-studied.
7:44
Across various studies, the ultimate
7:46
goal of the split step is to preload the
7:48
muscles to create a spring-like effect
7:51
that allows you to push off much
7:53
quicker.
7:54
Much like what we talked about in a
7:55
video about Lee Chong Wei's footwork.
7:59
A lot of players in an effort to make
8:01
their split step smaller
8:03
or to time their split with their
8:04
opponent's shot,
8:06
will lose this preloading effect and the
8:08
ultimate push off becomes [music] much
8:10
weaker.
8:15
One of the things that has become more
8:16
noticeable for Lin Dan is his play and
8:18
movements that have been modified
8:21
to try and produce the preload feeling
8:22
before every split.
8:25
To time the impact and push off to the
8:28
moment that the shuttle leaves your
8:29
opponent's racket, you generally have to
8:32
start the preload and split step
8:34
movement as they are swinging.
8:43
Players known for their elite footwork,
8:46
such as Lee Chong Wei
8:48
and Lee Hyun Il, have mastered the
8:50
preload timing
8:51
to the point that they can make the
8:53
movement very small and precise.
8:58
But if that timing has not been
8:59
mastered,
9:01
you would prefer to have more air time
9:02
to make sure you get the preload feeling
9:05
rather than have a small movement and
9:06
not have it.
9:09
And this is what has been an adjustment
9:11
for Lin Dan that is more obvious when
9:13
you compare how he moves after playing
9:15
net shots.
9:22
Before he would often stay relatively
9:23
still
9:25
as most of us are taught to stay up and
9:27
watch the net.
9:31
Nowadays, however,
9:33
he will pretty much always split step
9:35
even after playing good tight net shot.
9:40
The result has been less mistakes and
9:42
higher quality returns from Lin Chun-Yi.
9:45
That's a huge point. Another result of
9:46
Lin's higher emphasis on his split-step
9:49
is that it acts as a way to reset his
9:50
legs and stabilize his movements on
9:52
court.
9:54
A key benefit of split-stepping after
9:56
all
9:56
is about re-centering your body's center
9:58
of mass
9:59
so you can move equally as well in any
10:02
direction.
10:03
By playing to pretty much always have
10:05
his split-step
10:06
Lin Chun-Yi has become a much more
10:08
stable player
10:09
and his overall game is smoother
10:11
and more consistent.
10:27
Anyone think he took inspiration from
10:29
Lee Hyun-il?
10:30
Let us know in the comments below.
10:34
For us as players, we can learn from Lin
10:37
Chun-Yi in the sense that our gameplay
10:40
shouldn't always be about how we can
10:42
beat our opponents, but perhaps more
10:44
importantly about playing to maintain
10:46
our own rhythms
10:48
and ability to repeatedly deliver our
10:50
best performance. [music]
10:52
Lin Chun-Yi was a player that had
10:53
extremely deadly weapons in his smashes
10:55
alongside good front court shots to set
10:57
up his attack.
10:58
But ultimately
11:00
he could not consistently repeat strong
11:02
performances to win top [music] level
11:03
tournaments
11:05
until now.
11:07
What's changed is that Lin Chun-Yi plays
11:08
much more to maintain his own smooth
11:10
movement on court
11:11
and that has led to better defense and
11:13
shot quality.
11:15
This footwork and rhythm adjustment
11:17
combined with Lin Chun-Yi's already good
11:19
attacking play
11:20
makes him a truly dangerous player to
11:22
play against.
11:24
It will be interesting to see if he can
11:25
continue to maintain his form.
11:28
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11:30
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11:33
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11:35
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11:37
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11:39
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