Three World Darts Championship Shocks That Prove Anything Can Happen

Darts is an interesting game for the simple reason that on any given day when you step up to the oche anything can happen, just like with lotto betting; no result is guaranteed.

A complete unknown can walk onto the stage at Alexandra Palace and knock one of the very best off their perch, while a player who looks in total control can suddenly see the whole match turn against them in the space of a few missed doubles. After a throw of a dart, a career can change and a crowd can realise they are watching something that will be replayed for years. It’s reasons like this that make the World Darts Championship so special. 

The bright lights and the noise from the Ally Pally crowd can either lift a player or swallow them whole, and through the years some of the biggest names in the sport have discovered that rankings do not mean much once the darts start landing.

 

Michael Smith Beats Phil Taylor

Michael Smith beating Phil Taylor at the 2013 World Championship remains one of those results that look even better with time.

Taylor arrived as the defending champion and was expected by many to make another deep run, while Smith was still better known as a talented youngster rather than the major-winning force he would later become. He had won the World Youth Championship, so there was clearly something there, but facing Taylor on the biggest stage in the sport was a very different challenge.

At first, it looked like the night might follow the usual script. Taylor won the opening set and took out 156, which felt like the sort of moment that normally settles a favourite down and reminds the underdog exactly who he is playing. Smith did not disappear, and if anything he did the complete opposite.

As the match went on, he grew into it and started to show the belief that would later become such a big part of his game. By the time he broke Taylor’s throw in the deciding set, the crowd could sense that something rare was happening.

Then came the famous finish, Smith took out 128 on the bullseye to complete a brilliant 12-dart leg and send Taylor out, producing a result that felt like a changing-of-the-guard moment before anyone quite realised what Smith would become.

 

Fallon Sherrock Beats Mensur Suljovic

Fallon Sherrock had already made history by beating Ted Evetts, but her win over Mensur Suljovic felt like the moment the whole thing became bigger than darts.

Suljovic was ranked 11th in the world and had the kind of awkward, experienced game that could have made the night miserable for Sherrock. Plenty of people admired what she had already done, but there was still a feeling that this might be a step too far. Instead, Sherrock handled the pressure brilliantly.

She fought back from two legs down in the first set and kept herself alive whenever Suljovic looked ready to take control. His missed doubles gave her chances, but what mattered was how calmly she kept taking them.

That is often the difference when it comes to a massive shock result on the biggest stage when the pressure is on. The favourite can leave the door a jar, but the underdog still has to be brave enough to walk through it.

Sherrock won 3-1 and became known as the Queen of the Palace, not because it was a nice story, but because she had just beaten one of the best players in the world on merit.

 

Rob Cross Ruins Phil Taylor’s Farewell

Rob Cross beating Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Championship final was strange because the result itself was stunning, but the performance made it look almost normal.

Taylor was playing the final match of his professional PDC career, and there was a huge emotional pull around the idea of him signing off with a 17th world title. It would have been the perfect ending for one of the true greats in the sport. The kind of sporting farewell that almost feels written before it happens. However, Cross clearly had other ideas and showed no interest in following that script.

He had already survived an incredible semi-final against Michael van Gerwen, which would have emptied most players physically and mentally. Instead, he carried that form straight into the final and played with the calm of someone who had been doing this at the top level for years.

Cross was in his first year as a professional, yet he stood across from the greatest player the sport had seen and beat him 7-2. It was not close, nervy or shaped by sympathy for Taylor’s farewell. Cross was simply better on the night, and that is why it remains one of the most surprising world title wins darts has seen.