Enlarge image
"Bully Boy" Michael Smith is darts world champion for the first time
Photo: Zac Goodwin / dpa
"Bully Boy" Michael Smith is the new darts world champion.
In front of 3,000 spectators at Alexandra Palace in London, the Englishman won the final against two-time title holder Michael van Gerwen from the Netherlands 7:4.
Smith, fourth on the seed list, narrowly missed out on winning the World Cup in the finals in 2019 and 2022, losing to van Gerwen in 2019.
With his victory, Smith is now not only £500,000 richer and winner of the Sid Waddell Trophy, but also the new number one in the darts world rankings.
Spectacular leg nine-darters to Smith
Smith provided the first highlight of a final duel at world-class level in the second set: he managed a nine-darter, the perfect game with which he brought the 501 points to zero in just nine throws.
It was the first nine-darter at the World Cup and the first nine-darter in a World Cup final in 12 years when Adrian Lewis pulled off the feat against Gary Anderson.
Particularly curious: opponent van Gerwen had thrown eight perfect darts himself in the same leg and only just missed the arrow on double 12.
Van Gerwen does not follow words with deeds
After that, neither player came close to this level of perfection.
Vice World Champion Smith, who eliminated German hope Gabriel Clemens in the semifinals, was the more consistent player in scoring and doubles in the final, which was played over seven winning sets, and gradually pulled away.
That came as quite a surprise: Van Gerwen had consistently dominated in his semi-final against Dimitri van den Bergh from Belgium and won 6-0.
'He won't stop me.
Nobody's gonna stop me,” “Mighty Mike” announced to Smith before the finale.
When the score was 6:3 for Smith, the English fans in the »Ally Pally« were already loudly chanting »It's coming home«.
And Smith brought it home - but made it exciting again: Smith lost his nerve at the first chance to win, van Gerwen came a set closer.
But then Smith found his way back to his game and won the decisive seventh set.
cev/dpa
