Anders Antosen failed to claim his third European Championship title on Sunday.
Antonsen, who was topseeded in the tournament, was far from his last best when he lost 12-21, 19-21 to the Frenchman Christo Popov in Sunday's final.
This was the second successive year that France took the men's title, as Alex Lanier won last year, while Antonsen won the title in 2021 and 2024.
The Dane struggled to settle into his game in the first set, where he really looked off the pace against the dominant Popov.
Popov built a comfortable lead early on, which he extended as the mistakes continued to pile up for Antonsen. The Frenchman is a player who has his strengths in the attacking part of the game, and unlike Antonsen, he had no problems finding the lines.
An unheard-of high percentage of errors from the Dane resulted in a set that was never exciting. From 11-5 at the break, Popov cruised to a set win of 21-12.
Together with his older brother and coach Kasper, Antonsen agreed that he would attempt to get back into the game by wearing down the Frenchman physically.
But Antonsen opened the second set with two unforced errors as frustrations began to build. However, the anger of not being able to perform at his usual level prompted Antonsen to put up a fight, which prevented Popov from running away with the second set straight away.
Antonsen still made errors but a little less frequently, and he managed to hang on to 9-9 before the tide turned in French favor as Popov claimed an 11-9 lead at the break.
When a net roller allowed Popov to build a 16-13 lead, the alarm really started to go off, seen from a Danish perspective. Antonsen fought on, but Popov won two match points at 20-18 even though he began to look very tired. Popov then closed out the match on his second match point.