PDC World Championship 2022

The 29th PDC World Darts Championship will be held at Alexandra Palace in London from December 15, 2021 to January 3, 2022. Peter Wright becomes champion for the second time by beating Michael Smith in the final.

A total of 96 players will play during the 2022 World Darts Championship. One of them is the returning Raymond van Barneveld, who loses to Rob Cross in the second round. With Fallon Sherrock and Lisa Ashton, two women compete again, but they lose in the first round.

A stain on the tournament are positive corona tests by Michael van Gerwen, Vincent van der Voort and Dave Chisnall. As a result, they are forced to give a walk-over after Christmas.

Fortunately, there were also plenty of beautiful moments during the World Darts Championship. Gerwyn Price, Darius Labanauskas and William Borland all throw a nine-darter. Borland even throws this perfect leg in the deciding leg of his match. In addition to these three nine-darters, two 180 records are broken during this World Darts Championship. Wright throws the most number of 180ers in one match: 24 pieces, in his semi-final. This number is matched by Smith in the final. 'Bully Boy' also breaks the record for most 180ers in the entire tournament. The Englishman throws no less than 83 180’s this World Darts Championship, which greatly improves the record, which was held by Gary Anderson with 71 180’s.

Partly due to the frequent 180’s, the final between Wright and Smith is certainly one to watch again. 'Snakebite' wins the first two sets, after which Smith manages to get on the scoreboard. The exciting final then goes on until 4-4. At that moment, Wright seems to be taking a 5-4 lead, but it is Smith who takes the set. The first two legs of the tenth set also go to the Englishman, making a second world title for Wright seems further away than ever. Still, the Scot manages to turn the set and match around, by winning eight legs in a row. Smith wins one more leg, after which Wright secures the victory via double 16.

The world title for Wright is not one that is completely unexpected. The number two of the world already won the World Matchplay earlier this year and is a favourite together with Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and Michael van Gerwen. 'Snakebite' starts the tournament with an easy win over Ryan Meikle, but has to make up a 0-2 deficit in sets against Australia's Damon Heta in the third round. After a 4-1 win over Ryan Searle, Wright is tested for the first time in the quarterfinals by Callan Rydz, the surprise of the tournament. The 23-year-old darts player from England manages to get ahead in sets at 1-3 and 3-4, but it is Wright who takes a 5-4 victory after a sudden-death. For a place in the final, the 51-year-old Wright will play against fellow countryman and former world champion Gary Anderson. In a spectacular match in which both players record an average of over 100, it's Wright who wins 6-4.

The 31-year-old Smith, who has played fantastically throughout the entire tournament, starts his World Darts Championship in the second round with a match against Ron Meulenkamp. With an 106+ average, the Dutchman is wiped off the board. A round later, William O'Connor is defeated 4-2, after which Smith meets Jonny Clayton. In a beautiful fight, Smith manages to turn a 0-2 deficit in sets into a 3-2 lead. Thanks to some great finishes, Clayton forces a sixth set, in which both are forced to play their best game. After ten legs of top darts, it is ultimately Smith who wins. In the quarterfinals, none other than world champion and number one in the world, Gerwyn Price awaits. This match is also one for the books. Both gentlemen play their best game and Price even manages to throw a nine-darter in the fourth set. It is also the darts player from Wales who gets the first match darts with a 4-3 lead in sets. However, these are missed. Smith makes 4-4 in sets and immediately takes a 2-0 lead in the deciding set. Price cannot recover from this blow and loses the match and his world title. In the last hurdle to the final, Smith meets the number four of the seeding list: James Wade. In contrast to the two previous matches, this time it’s not so much a spectacle and the player from England gets away relatively easy 6-3 victory.

As in previous years, a number of top players will be eliminated early during this World Darts Championship. In the second round, the defeat of Dimitri van den Bergh was the biggest surprise. The Belgian loses to Florian Hempel from Germany. The seeded players Krzysztof Ratajski and Stephen Bunting also do not survive their first game. They are defeated by Steve Lennon and Ross Smith.

PDC World Championship

About PDC World Championship 2022

Competitors Of PDC World Championship 2022

Peter Wright

Gerwyn Price

Michael van Gerwen

James Wade

Dimitri Van den Bergh

Gary Anderson

Jose de Sousa

Jonny Clayton

Michael Smith

Nathan Aspinall

Rob Cross

Krzysztof Ratajski

Joe Cullen

Dave Chisnall

Ryan Searle

Stephen Bunting

Dirk van Duijvenbode

Danny Noppert

Luke Humphries

Simon Whitlock

Mervyn King

Daryl Gurney

Brendan Dolan

Glen Durrant

Gabriel Clemens

Mensur Suljovic

Ian White

Devon Petersen

Vincent van der Voort

Chris Dobey

Damon Heta

Kim Huybrechts

Lisa Ashton

Keane Barry

Chas Barstow

Steve Beaton

Roman Benecky

William Borland

Bradley Brooks

Matt Campbell

Mike De Decker

Ritchie Edhouse

Ricky Evans

Ted Evetts

Jason Heaver

Florian Hempel

Peter Hudson

Jamie Hughes

Adam Hunt

Lourence Ilagan

Ryan Joyce

Nick Kenny

Martijn Kleermaker

Boris Koltsov

Boris Krcmar

Maik Kuivenhoven

Nitin Kumar

Darius Labanauskas

Royden Lam

Chris Landman

Daniel Larsson

Danny Lauby II

Steve Lennon

Adrian Lewis

Paul Lim

Jason Lowe

Gordon Mathers

Ryan Meikle

Ron Meulenkamp

John Michael

Scott Mitchell

Joe Murnan

John Norman

William O'Connor

Diogo Portela

Madars Razma

Ben Robb