In one of the sport’s most memorable matches, Michael Smith defeated Michael van Gerwen 7-4 at the Alexander Palace to win the title of World Darts Champion.
In one of the greatest matches in the history of the sport, Michael Smith defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen to win his first World Darts Championship title. Smith’s victory included a miraculous nine-dart finish, which has been hailed as one of the best legs in history.
Smith entered the match as the underdog, but he ended up having a fairly incredible season by winning on the biggest stage of them all after three attempts. The first break of the match came from the favorite, as Van Gerwen took advantage of Smith’s missed double to win the first set 2-1 and toss for the set.
In the fourth leg, the Dutchman took advantage and checked out an 84 to grab an early 1-0 lead.
But what happened next was undoubtedly one of the pinnacles in darts history. As they smashed in a combined four maximums in the opening set, the pair had already traded a plethora of 180s early on.
This pattern persisted as the two players engaged in an epic leg play in the third game of the second set. Van Gerwen launched the match with yet another 180 to start the pursuit of a nine-dart finish. Amazingly, Smith responded with a 180 of his own, matching this.
However, things had just begun as Van Gerwen added a second maximum to leave 144, followed by Smith once more to leave 141. In a World Championship final, the Dutchman was the first to try the second nine-dart finish.
And after landing two treble 20’s, he was on track to accomplish it. The three-time world champion, though, painfully missed his try at the double 12, but the adoring Ally Pally crowd’s hopes were not yet destroyed.
Smith stood up. He also hit his first two darts, giving himself a throw at double 12 for the nine-dart finish. To the pleasure of the jubilant crowd, “Bully Boy” outdid his rival and delivered the knockout blow that caused the London arena’s roof to collapse.
