Darts World Records

Darts Record Breakers!

When it comes to World Records it seems that any bizarre or a variation on a theme seems acceptable.

Some people grow insanely long fingernails; some think having the heaviest number of live Bees on your body is a record worth having! While others achieve theirs by being the youngest, the oldest, the tallest, the fastest or to be the first to achieve a feat.

When it comes to darts there are lots of recognised records people have achieved, some will remain unbroken because they were the first to achieve the feat while others are likely to be beaten at some point in time.

For any record to be recognised it needs to be correctly recorded, witnessed and verified. So, if you are knowingly looking to attempt a new World record you will need to comply with rules set out by the Guinness World Records in order for the record to be recorded.

Below I have listed some of the recognised and current, (at the date of publication) records that have been achieved in the sport of darts.

 

The First to Achieve.

In some cases, the first to achieve a record usually cannot be broken. I say usually because there are clearly records that cannot be disputed while others are what could be known at the time of research. An example could be the first person to dive off Niagara Falls and live! A record may be accepted but later another claim could supersede their claim.

Here are some first to achieve records

World Champions

When it comes to Champions this can be considered ambiguous. Does any darts event that has the World in the title mean the winner is a world champion? Well no!
World Masters, World Matchplay the winners are not ‘World Champions’ by winning such an event, however, these tournaments are recognised in their own right.

 

Men’s World Darts Champion

In 1978 Leighton Rees from Wales became the first recognised World Champion in the Sport of darts. Prior to the World Champions being organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), other events were considered to have a similar title such as the ‘News of the World Individual Championships’. However, this event started as a local or regional event in the UK and expanded across the Country. Players winning this event could be considered as the best in the World but not ‘World Champion’

Leighton Rees beat John Lowe (MBE) in the final 11 -7 (legs) at the ‘Heart of the Midlands’ Nightclub in Nottingham to claim the title. The event was broadcast via the BBC was played in leg format not set format as per today.

Women’s World Darts Champion

The Women’s World Championship wasn’t conceived until 2001. Although Women’s international dart events and team matches were being played many years prior to 2001. it took an immense amount of time to convince the BDO to stage a Women’s event. The pressure was on for not only winning the title but also to perform well. The BDO feared if the ladies didn’t play well then, the first World Championship could also be the last.

The ladies, of course, played well and dart averages over the years clearly show they have some of the highest averages regardless of sex:

Trina Gulliver (MBE) became the first Womens World Champion. Trina beat Mandy Solomons 2-1 (sets) in the final. Trina went on to win the next six World Championships, i.e. seven in a row another record (to date). Trina also holds other records when it comes to the World Championships. To date (2020) Trina has won the title ten times and reached the final a total of twelve times.

PDC World Darts Champion

 

When the sixteen top dart professionals split from the BDO to form the World Darts Council (WDC), now known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) the first World Championship they formed in 1994 was not treated will the respect it now holds due to the lack of the depth of players the new Corporation held. Of the sixteen players that moved from the BDO World Championship, a number were former BDO World Champions This included the current BDO World Champion at the time ‘John Lowe’. However, it wasn’t John that won the first PDC World Championship or Eric Bristow (MBE), the first player to win five world titles and three World titles in a row.  The winner of the first event was Dennis Priestly.

Dennis Priestly, a former BDO World Champion, beat Phil Taylor 6-1 (sets) in the first PDC World Championship. Phil, as most people know, went on to dominate the darts scene during his career winning a total of sixteen World titles.

 

 

 

Steel-tip Darts now has only two main governing bodies, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), and the World Darts Federation (WDF). The former British Darts Organisation (BDO) went into voluntary liquidation in September 2020, and its last World Championships were staged at the London O2 Arena in London in January 2020.

Since 2022, the WDF has taken over some of the previously BDO staged events, including the World Darts Championships, and Masters

 

World Darts Federation / British Darts Organisation

Jelle Klassen became the youngest male winner of the BDO World Championships 2006, aged 21 years 90 days. DOB 17/10/1984 - BDO World Championship Final 15/01/2006

Beau Greave became the youngest winner of the WDF Word Championships in 2022, aged 18 years, 91 days. DOB 09/01/2004 - WDF World Championship Final 10/04/2022

Profesional Darts Corporation

Michael van Gerwen became the youngest winner of the PDC World Darts Champions in 2014, aged 24 years, 255 days. DOB 25/04/1989 – PDC World Championship Final 01/01/2014

Youngest Player to play in the PDC World Finals

Luke Litter is the youngest player to qualify and play in the 2024 PDC World Championship. The rules state that no player under the age of 16 years can play in the senior competition. In 2023, at 16 years and 11 months, Luke played his first round PDC World Championship Match on December 20, 2023, beating Christian Kist 3-0 (sets). Luke continued his winning streak, beating Andrew Gilding  3 -1 in the second round and Matt Cambell 4-1 in the third. Topping some of the highest dart averages in the tournament, Luke beat the former five-time World Champion, Raymond van Barneveld, 4-1 in round four and then unexpected quarter-finalist, Brendan Dolan, 5-1.

In the semi-finals, Luke faced Rob Cross and dismissed him 6-2 to set up a final with the tournament favourite Luke Humphries. Luke Littler lost in the final 7-4.

(Luke Littler Born January 21 2007)

 

They may not be at their peak, but age doesn’t matter, as players of any age can still make the Telvised World Championship finals. At 67, Paula Murphy from the USA played in the WDF Lakeside World Finals, winning her first-round and second-round matches against Almudena Fajardo (SPA) 2-1 and Anca Zijlstra (NED) 2-0. She eventually lost in the Quarter Finals to the tournament winner, Beau Greaves, 2-0.

Veteran Darts Player Paul Lim, famous for the only nine-dart leg in the BDO World Darts Championship in 1990, played in the 2022 PDC World Darts Championships after qualifying via the Asian Tour. Paul, at 68, became the oldest player to qualify for the Championships. He lost in the first round to Joe Murun 3-2

 

Thorgeir Gudmundsson played for Iceland in the 2018 WDF Europe Cup at 73 and is probably the oldest dart player to represent their country in a WDF-managed event.

Thorgier also played in the 2022 Reykjavik International Games, losing in the first round to Hordur Gudjonsson 5-1

 

Fallon Sherrock Story

Fallon Sherrock cemented her name in the history books by becoming the first female player to defeat a man at the PDC World Darts Championships.

On Tuesday 17th December 2019, Fallon defeated Ted Evetts 3-2 in the first round of the 2020 PDC World Darts Championships. Her feat made headlines across the world, featured in newspapers, TV news broadcasts and even prompted a tweet from the legendary tennis star, grand slam winner and fighter for equal rights for female sport, Billie Jean King.

Fallon performance was world-class, averaging more than 90 per throw throughout the match. It was no luck that she won as she outperformed her opponent with her finishing stats. In round two Fallon faced the No.11 seed Mensur Suljović and to the shock of the darting world promptly dismissed him 3-1 with a superb display of arrows. Her PDC World Champion run came to an end in round three as she lost to the No.22 seed Chris Dobey 4-2. Despite taking an early lead, two sets to one point.

In the tournament, Fallon had six 100 plus checkouts, the highest being 142. She earned £35,000 for her efforts, the highest prize a lady has won in a recognised darts tournament to date. (27th December 2019)

 

Lisa Ashton was the first lady to qualify for a two-year PDC Tour card via the PDC Q-school qualification system. Lisa won one of the 31 tour cards made available for 2020 on 19th January 2020 by acquiring enough points over the four days of daily qualifying rounds.

Lisa narrowly missed out on an automatic qualification on day two losing out to Kai Fan Leung in a final leg decider on day two of the 2020 Q-School qualification. It isn’t the first time Lisa has tried to qualify. In 2019 she missed out by one point!  

 

The main game played at dart tournaments is 501. Most events play the leg in the format of straight off, double finish meaning the score of 501 can be reduced from the first scoring dart wherever the dart lands on the dartboard but the leg must be concluded or finished on a double, the outer scoring segment of the dart board. i.e. 32 means a single dart in the double segment of the 16 wins the leg.

The older variation and still used in the PDC World Grand Prix.  The player must also start the leg on any double and finish on a double to achieve 501.

Regardless of format the least amount of darts to finish a leg is nine. The most common way for this feat is 180,180,141 or in the case of a double start 160,180,161.

As regards the first player to achieve this feat we can really only say the first person to achieve this on TV as it is difficult to obtain records that were witnessed in a way to be recognised.

John Lowe (MBE) was the first player to throw the ‘perfect’ leg. He achieved this feat at the MFI World Matchplay on the 13th October 1984, his opponent was Keith Dellar. John earned £102,000 for his achievement.

John threw 6 x treble 20, treble 17, treble 18 followed by double 18

Believe it or not, there are 3,944 different ways of achieving a nine-dart leg of which 2,296 finish with the bullseye, 672 ends on Double 20, 792 on Double 18, 56 ends on Double 17, 120 ends on Double 15, and 8 ends on Double 12.

Arguably the hardest way is to hit 167 three times, Treble 20, Treble 19, Bullseye.

> Paul Lim was the first player to hit a nine-dart leg in the 1990 BDO World Championships second round against Jack McKenna.

• > Shaun Greatbatch achieved the first live broadcast of a nine-dart finish in the Dutch Open Final against Steve Coote. Previous nine-dart legs had a delayed broadcast.

• > In 2002 at the PDC World Matchplay Phil Taylor achieved the first nine-dart leg to be broadcast on British TV, his opponent was Chris Mason.

• > Adrian Lewis was the first player to achieve a perfect nine-dart leg in a World Championship final. Adrian achieved this feat in the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship in the third leg against Gary Anderson.

• > Fallon Sherrock, again made headline news in March 2023 for the first women to hit a nine-dart leg in a PDC event. Fallon defeated Marco Verhofstad 5-3 in Hildesheim, Germany, Winmau Tour event.

  She initially took a 3-0 lead with her perfect leg of 180, 180 and 141 and achieved a final match 92 average.

A nine-dart leg is a holy grail for most dart players. I only came close once with a perfect eight darts 180,180, 60, 57 but missed the double 12. A nine-dart leg is hard to achieve and usually comes when a player is under pressure to perform at their best. Although I have had many back-to-back 180 starts the 141 has always been my nemesis, I have of course checked out 141 many times but not as part of a nine-dart leg.

 

 

Since John Lowe's epic feat for hitting the first televised nine-dart leg, the darter's holy grail has been hit by hundreds of players. Although my personal record is zero! Having missed my only opportunity (to date) by missing a double twelve to complete the leg. Although back-to-back 180s since commonplace these days for many of the top pro's the last three darts can be one step too far.

The high standard of play and the thinner wiring allows a player to score more highly than their counterparts back in the 1970s and fans come to expect a nine-dart leg at major competitions although they are not always rewarded with this feat. One player that tops this tree of competitive (major darts event) is Green Machine, Mighty Mike, Michael van Gerwen.

Michael recorded his record-breaking 23rd competitive nine-dart leg at the PDC Players Championship Round six, on the 23rd February 2020, beating Phil Taylor's career record of twenty-two.

MVG increaed his world record-breaking nine-dart tally to 24 at the 2020, PDC UK Open semi-final against Daryl Gurney. Michael has, of course, hit more since this feat!

Original publishing 8th March 2020

 

 

 

Hitting a 180 is great to achieve and watch, but some arrow smiths make this feat look easy. There will be various 180 records for every event, but one stands out that I thought I would publish. The event is the PDC World Darts Championship 2023.

Round, Three of the PDC World Darts Championship 2023 pitted two big 180 hitters, and even before the match started, comments were made if a new record would be achieved. Thursday, 29 December 2022, Dirk van Duijenbode vs Ross Smith hit 31 180s between them. Ross had 19, an individual record for this round, and Dirk hit 12. Dirk won the match in a last-leg decider.

 

Some records players don’t wish to be associated with one of these is the most darts taken to win a leg of darts! Although I have personally marked a lady’s league single-leg game that took 98 darts, I dare say more darts have been taken to win a leg.  The professional scene, however, is something different as we expect players to hit nine-dart legs and have averaged in the 90s and some cases in excess 100 per throw but this isn’t always the case.

In the 2020 BDO Women’s World Professional Darts Championship 2nd round Corrie Hammond form Australia recoded a leg that took 43 darts against England’s Laura Turner. The Winning double, double-one (also known as the Madhouse). Although Corrie may like to forget this leg, have a thought for her opponent Laura who lost the leg. Both ladies, however, were having a big off day and this doesn’t represent their usual standard of play.

 

The highest average that can be scored playing 501 games is 167. This is the average for a perfect nine-dart leg. However, this is for a single leg. There are records for all tournaments as regards the who ‘currently’ holds the highest 3-dart average. Some also look at the first nine-darts thrown (known as the main scoring darts) as a separate average as well as double percentages (the number of darts thrown at a double vs the amount achieved).

For records, Keith Deller features in a few. Keith was the first player to achieve 100 average in a recognised tournament. Keith achieved this feat in the 1985 World Champions quarter-final. Keith also holds the record for the fastest 3 legs of 301 just 97 seconds. He also holds the record for the fastest single leg of 301, 36 seconds!

(I believe records cannot be inter linked. i.e. a runner runs 1500m he records the World fasted time. On his third lap he also records the fasted 400m! This is not taken as a separate 400m record but only as part of the 1500m total.)

 

Three dart averages are on the up and change reasonably frequently. The issue of the highest average also can cause confusion because of the length or format of a match tournament. The shorter matches, the more lightly the averages is going to be higher.

 

For Televised Averages

Michael van Gerwen is the current world record holder for a televised match with an average of 123.40 thrown 25th February 2016 in the Premier League against Michael Smith. Gerwen won the match 7-5

Fallon Sherrock seems to be rewriting the modern games for women's darts. On 14th November 2021, playing in the PDC Grand Slam of Darts, Fallon recorded a three-dart average of 101.55. Not surprisingly, Fallon beat her male opponent, Mike De Decker, 5-0 in the tournament's round-robin phase.

 

Non-Televised but a Live Stream

14th October 2019 Peter Wright hit a three-dart average of 123.5 against Krzysztof Ratajski at Players Championship 29. The best of 11 leg event Peter won the highest average in a live broadcast. Wight won the match 6-0

 

 

Leighton Bennett ‘Boom Boom’

Highest Youth International Average ‘British Internationals 2019’

Following his Lakeside World Youth Championship success, Leighton recorded the highest average seen in International Darts for a Youth player. Aged just 13 and on his debut playing for England, Leighton achieved an average of 35.79 per dart (3 dart average 107.37) in a best of 5 leg match against Welsh youth player Sion Russell. Leighton won 3-0

BOOM BOOM!

View on YouTube

 

 

Josh Rock recorded the highest PDC World Youth Average, 104.13, on 27th November 2022, on his way to winning the title 6-1 again Nathan Girvan

 

After gaining her PDC tour card in 2020 (the fisrt for ever for a female player), Lisa Ashton has set the highest three dart average for a lady in a PDC major TV event. In her first-round match, in the PDC UK Open 2021, 5th March (second of the tournament), Lisa beat Aaron Beeney 6-2 on the main stage. She recorded a three-dart average of 100.3 to become the first women to hit over 100 average in a PDC major TV event and set a new record for others to follow.

However, Fallon Sherrock tops this table in the PDC Grand Slam of Darts. On 14th November 2021, , Fallon recorded a three-dart average of 101.55. Not surprisingly, Fallon beat her male opponent, Mike De Decker, 5-0 in the tournament's round-robin phase.

Of course, anyone that follows lady’s darts will know this isn’t the first time a lady has achieved a 100 plus average in a match, but these were the first in PDC events

 

Thorgeir Gudmundsson played for Iceland in the 2018 WDF Europe Cup at 73 and is probably the oldest dart player to represent their country in a WDF-managed event.

Thorgier also played in the 2022 Reykjavik International Games, losing in the first round to Hordur Gudjonsson 5-1

Paul Lim has a string of dart titles to his name in both soft-tip and steel-tip darts. He was also noted for his nine-dart leg in the BDO World Championship in 1990. Over the years Paul has played for more than one Country, the USA and Singapore. In June 2019 at the age of 65, Paul again played in the PDC World Cup of Darts for Singapore making him the oldest player to play for his Country in a darts competition at this time.

Paul also has qualified and played in both the BDO and PDC World Championships, his latest the PDC 2022 World Darts Championships (aged 67 years). Paul’s DOB 25/01/1954.

 

Success can be measured in several ways. The most titles, most wins, highest average, nine-dart finishes, number of three dart checkouts, most recorded 100 plus averages. But most agree the title of World Champion is the pinnacle of any sport. Winning a World Championship tests any player to the full. Phil Taylor won a total of sixteen World Championship titles, a feat that is likely to be unbeaten.

Phil dominated the sport from the early 1990s. In 1990 he won his first BDO World Darts title and repeated the feat in 1992. That same year, the famous dart player split happened, with sixteen top players splitting to form the WDC (World Darts Council), later becoming the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation).  Their first World Championship was played over the 1993/94 Christmas / New Year period. Phil went on to win a further 14 titles under the PDC, now considered the definitive World title.

 

Ladies’ darts has been part of for many decades. However, it took some persuasion to stage a Women’s World Championship. The fear of the BDO and sponsors was would the event be a sideshow, poor play that could adversely affect their male counterparts event. The BDO need not fear as their first Women’s World Championship in 2001 was a spectacular success and became a pinacol darts event for female players. Although the PDC say their World Championship is open to both male and female players since 2018/2019, they have made two places available for women.

Although you may debate who is the best final player of all time based on the number of titles won, the highest averages, and players achieving PDC tour cards. Trina Gulliver MBE is undoubtedly the most successful female player when it comes to the BDO World Championships. Trina won the first event stage in 2001 and won a further nine titles, while the event was staged, a total of ten in total. Trina also holds the top three averages recorded in the World Champions and qualified for all of the events from 2001 – 2020. Trina didn’t compete in 2020 due to illness.

 

Top three-dart averages at the BDO World Championships

 

Trina Gulliver	95.97	2006	Semi-Final Verses	Clare Bywaters
Trina Gulliver	94.92	2001	Semi-Final Verses	Crissyy Manley
Trina Gulliver	90.24	2004	Semi-Final Verses	Karin Krappen

 

 

 

There are a lot of World Records relating to darts that are not related to professional darts. Some of these relate to dart marathons, most bullseyes in a given time; most scored within a set time, least darts used for marathon legs, 1,000,001 and 100,001 and some even more bizarre.

These are correct at the time of posting and if you want to try and better the records, I suggest you check with the Guinness World Records first to make sure your attempt will be recorded and to make sure the detail I have below is current and correct.

 

James Wade holds the Official World record of hitting inner and outer Bullseyes in one minute. He hit 15 at the Motorpoint Arena on the 23rd September 2016

 

The furthest distance a dart was thrown at and hit the bullseye on a standard dartboard is 6 m (19 ft 8.2 inches). This was achieved by Matthew Prouse (UK) in Reading, UK, on 30 April 2017.

This attempt took place to raise funds and awareness for child and adolescence mental health issues.

 

The least darts to score 1,000,001 by a team of eight men was 35,698

The team of eight included Mickey Mansell, Mickey Taggart, Felix McBrearty, Daryl Gurney, Campbell Jackson, Ronan McMahon, Eamonn McGovern and Thomas Stoga. They achieved the recognised feat at The Weigh Inn Bar in Omagh, UK, from 21 to 23 August 2010.

Included with claim were scoresheets for all darts thrown and video of the entire attempt.

The team averaged 28 per dart or 84 per throw

 

Chris Gray holds the current record for the least darts used to achieve this feat. Chris achieved 100,001 in 3,579 darts. Chris set the record at the Dolphin, Cromer, Norfolk on 27th April 1993.

For some extra guidance, Chris averaged 29.94 per dart or 83.82. A very good average over a long period of play, however, I am sure some of you may think you could better this!

 

The highest darts score in one hour by a men's team (eight players) is 35,087

This was achieved by the Cork Darts Organisation (Ireland) at the St. Vincent's GAA Club in Cork, Ireland, on 20 March 2010. The team members who participated were Martin Cotter, Damian O'Driscoll, Steven Coveney, John O'Shea, Craig Sproat, Jason Kavanaugh, Kevin McDonnell, and James Corcoran.

 

Why not apply to achieve this record?

• > This record is for the highest total score playing darts within 24 hours by a pair.

• > This record is to be attempted by a team of two.

• > The record is measured by the number of points scored.

• > For points to register the dart must enter and remain on the board in the scoring zone.

Sign-up Guinness World Records

 

There are lots of other dart records that I haven’t published. However, if you want to know more about Official Dart World Records, please consult the Guinness World Records. Please do not send me your darting achievements. If you have bettered any of the records listed above again please contact the Guinness World Records. If you can prove the record and it was conducted under the right conditions for the record to stand then they will publish/record the record and issue you with a certificate to prove your record is a World beater.