Nine-dart hero Michael Smith upset the odds against Michael van Gerwen in the most outrageous fashion to claim his first PDC Cazoo World Darts Championship title at the Alexandra Palace.
- Scroll down for leg-by-leg report and stats
The two-time runner-up, tipped on these pages at 8/1 pre-tournament, lost to MVG in the 2019 final and to Peter Wright 12 months ago but made his intentions emphatically clear early on by winning the greatest leg in darts history when achieving perfection straight after the Dutchman narrowly missed double 12 for the same feat.
Bully Boy's head could easily have gone into a spin as the Ally Pally crowd went crazy but he quickly regained his composure and his relentless scoring power to square the match at 1-1.
Smith, whose insane moment of perfection was also tipped up at 12/1 in our final preview, went on to fire 22 of the 37 180s throughout an unforgettable encounter, landed two other 100+ checkouts to go with his 141 and averaged 100.87 compared to his opponent's 99.58 en route to fulfilling his darting destiny with a 7-4 victory.
For many years, darts pundits and fans have unanimously agreed the floodgates would open for the highly talented St Helens star once he finally gets over the line and now those predictions are beginning to ring true.
The 32-year-old, who was appearing in his 10th major final but his first since finally breaking his major duck at November’s Grand Slam of Darts, told Sky Sports: "The way I felt when I won will never be topped, no matter what I do in this sport in the future. To be World Champion and world number one is amazing.
"When I won the Grand Slam I said I would eventually become World Champion and world number one.
"I want to do what Michael [van Gerwen] has done, I want to dominate the sport but he's still around! It's now 1-1 between us in World Championship finals, but I don't think it will be the last."
Smith was also highly magnanimous in victory and even suggested he was lucky despite the manner of his performance.
“It’s amazing, but I don’t want to start getting into all the crying and emotions,” Smith added. “Michael let me off a lot there and for once I finally took a chance that I didn’t deserve but I still took it. I want to apologise to Michael, I have been in that position before and I don’t know what to say.”
On his nine-dart finish, he said: “I was hitting 180, 180 in practice and missing so I thought I would give the crowd what they deserve, I got a magical nine and it was good.
As well as his heavy scoring, Smith's finishing was also on point too, pinning 47% of his attempts at doubles as MVG spurned 32 of his 50 (38%), but equally as important as the stats was his supreme mental strength and character under such immense pressure.
After moving 2-1 up in sets, he soon found himself 3-2 down when van Gerwen, who was hot favourite for glory having won 10 titles this season including the Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Players Championship Finals, enjoyed an ominous spell of winning six out of eight legs.
But that was nothing compared to a dominating run that Smith was about to enjoy as he reeled off four sets in succession and only one of those - the seventh - went to a deciding leg. Bully Boy took that with an ice cool 14-darter when the three-time champion was waiting to come back on 58 and from then on, he never really let up.
Michael Smith's route to World Championship glory
- R2: 3-0 v Nathan Rafferty
Set scores: 3-0, 3-0, 3-0
Average: 96.62
180s: 3 (0.33 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 2 (High: 130)
Checkout %: 39.1% (9/23) - R3: 4-3 v Martin Schindler
Set scores: 2-3, 3-0, 2-3, 1-3, 3-2, 3-1, 3-1
Average: 95.36
180s: 6 (0.20 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 2 (High: 170)
Checkout %: 40.5% (17/42) - R4: 4-1 v Joe Cullen
Set scores: 3-2, 0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2
Average: 103.25
180s: 10 (0.48 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 0 (High: 76)
Checkout %: 40% (12/30) - QF: 5-3 v Stephen Bunting
Set scores: 3-2, 0-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-0, 0-3, 1-3, 3-1
Average: 91.63
180s: 6 (0.20 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 0 (High: 87)
Checkout %: 47.1% (16/34) - SF: 6-2 v Gabriel Clemens
Set scores: 3-2, 2-3, 3-2, 2-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2, 3-1
Average: 101.85
180s: 19 (0.51 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 5 (High: 161)
Checkout %: 43.1% (22/51) - F: 7-4 v Michael van Gerwen
Set scores: 1-3, 3-1, 3-1, 0-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-1, 3-0, 2-3, 3-2
Average: 100.87
180s: 22 (0.49 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 3 (High: 141)
Checkout %: 26/55 (47.3%)
Michael Smith: Roll of honour
- World Championship (2023)
- Grand Slam of Darts champion (2022)
- US Darts Masters (2022)
- Shanghai Darts Masters (2018)
- 5x European Tour titles
- 12x Pro Tour titles
- World Matchplay runner-up (2019)
- Premier League runner-up (2018)
- UK Open runner-up (2022)
- European Championship runner-up (2022)
- Masters runner-up (2020)
- World Series of Darts Finals runner-up (2018)
- Averages
Smith: 100.72
MVG: 99.09 - 180s
Smith: 20
MVG: 14 - Checkout %
Smith: 23/48 (47.9%)
MVG: 18/49 (36.7%) - 100+ Checkouts
Smith: 141, 130
MVG: 105, 100
- Averages
Smith: 103.09
MVG: 102.09 - 180s
Smith: 17
MVG: 13 - Checkout %
Smith: 18/36 (50%)
MVG: 15/41 (36.6%) - 100+ Checkouts
Smith: 141, 130
MVG: 100
- Averages
Smith: 102.76
MVG: 103.55 - 180s
Smith: 15
MVG: 12 - Checkout %
Smith: 15/32 (46.9%)
MVG: 14/39 (35.9%) - 100+ Checkouts
Smith: 141, 130
MVG: 100
- Averages
Smith: 104.89
MVG: 105.42 - 180s
Smith: 12
MVG: 8 - Checkout %
Smith: 9/20 (45%)
MVG: 11/31 (35.5%) - Highest Checkout
Smith: 141
MVG: 100
- Averages
Smith: 106.31
MVG: 103.88 - 180s
Smith: 11
MVG: 6 - Checkout %
Smith: 7/17 (41.20%)
MVG: 8/27 (29.6%) - Highest Checkout
Smith: 141
MVG: 90
MATCH SCORE: Michael Smith 2-2 Michael van Gerwen (Best of 13 sets)
SET FOUR SCORE: Michael Smith 0-3 Michael van Gerwen
- Leg Three
Van Gerwen is seemingly back on track as he levels up the match by whitewashing Smith in the fourth set, although this leg - which he takes in 18 legs - was rather scrappy compared to the rest. But they can certainly be forgiven for that!
Smith 0-2 MVG - Leg Two
The standard of this final is out of this world right now and although Smith hits two of the three 180s in this majestic leg, he misses a dart at tops and MVG takes it with an 18-D18-D18 90 checkout for a 12-darter.
Smith 0-2 MVG
- Averages
Smith: 97.64
MVG: 99.36 - 180s
Smith: 2
MVG: 2 - Checkout %
Smith: 1/3 (33.33%)
MVG: 3/10 (30%) - Highest Checkout
Smith: 40
MVG: 84
MATCH SCORE: Michael Smith 0-1 Michael van Gerwen (Best of 13 sets)
SET ONE SCORE: Michael Smith 1-3 Michael van Gerwen
- Leg Four
Van Gerwen clinches the opening set by taking out 84 in a comfortable 15-dart hold, with Smith waiting for an unlikely poke at 164. Still plenty of time for Bully Boy to bounce back in this darting marathon.
Smith 1-3 MVG - Leg Three
The duo trade 180s early in a high-quality leg but after Smith misses double eight for what would have been a 127 checkout, MVG finishes 47 for an impressive 11-dart break of throw.
Smith 1-2 MVG - Leg Two
Not the standard of darts you'd expect in a World Championship final between the two best players in the world! MVG reaches a finish after four visits but misses seven darts at a double before finally finishing the job in the madhouse. As for Smith, he didn't apply enough pressure despite his opening visit being a 180 and only ended up having a single attempt at a bullseye to break.
Smith 1-1 MVG - Leg One (Smith throwing first)
It's first blood for Michael Smith as he holds throw with an impressive 13-darter despite the opening 180 of the final coming from Michael van Gerwen.
Smith 1-0 MVG
2025: The players are now making their way to the oche so the action is finally about to begin!
2000: Right, the players will be out on the oche in about 25 minutes, so you've got plenty of time to have a read of Paul Nicholson's highlights of the season - or watch the short video I recorded with him at the Ally Pally. There really are some cracking moments in there...
1955: Before the final gets under way at around 2025 GMT, here are my two best bets for the night and scoreline prediction, which I wrote about extensively with stats in my pre-match preview. However, although I'm tentatively going for van Gerwen tonight, I am pinning my hopes on Smith, who I backed at 8/1 in my pre-tournament preview. As much as I don't want to be regarded as a deserter, it's impossible not to be impressed and wary of the mind-boggling standard produced by MVG.
- Score Prediction: Smith 5-7 Van Gerwen ()
1950: Just so you don't have to do any number crunching from their route to the final stats below, I've done it for you. Once again, Michael Smith's figures are on the left of each category...
- Tournament Average: 97.64 - 104.63
100+ match averages: 2 - 5
Highest average: 103.25 (L16) - 108.28 (SF)
Lowest average: 91.63 (QF) - 92.19 (R2) - Tournament 180s: 44 - 32
180s per leg: 0.34 - 0.33 - Doubles hit (Checkout %): 76/180 (42.22%) - 70/157 (44.59%)
- Sets won/lost: 22/7 - 22/3
Legs won/lost: 76/51 - 70/28 - 100+ checkouts: 9 - 5
Per leg won: 11.84% - 7.14%
Highest checkout: 170 - 170 - Match Treble% (win, most 180s + high C/O): 40% - 40%
Michael van Gerwen's statistics are quite simply sensational and he's producing the kind of consistency from his dominating pre-Covid era when he made 100 averages look so easy. The dodgy performances that were creeping in too frequently in 2020 and 2021 are becoming rarer and rarer so I don't think he's 'due' a bad one any time soon!
He's now averaged over 100 in 12 of his last 16 matches since losing to Chris Dobey at the European Championship back in October - including all five at the World Championship - and is overall average in that run is well over 103.
As for Michael Smith, well he's managed a couple of 100+ averages against Joe Cullen and Gabriel Clemens thanks to finding his breathtaking 180 range in both contests and he's got to be at that level again tonight. He can't afford the lulls in standard that we saw from him against Martin Schindler and Stephen Bunting.
1945: Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen's run to the Alexandra Palace final has been almost as destructive as you can get.
- R2: 3-0 v Lewy Williams
Set scores: 3-1, 3-0, 3-0
Average: 101.84
180s: 3 (0.3 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 0 (High: 94)
Checkout %: 50% (9/18) - R3: 4-2 v Mensur Suljovic
Set scores: 3-2, 3-2, 1-3, 3-2, 2-3, 3-1
Average: 107.66
180s: 12 (0.50 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 1 (High: 101)
Checkout %: 38.5% (15/39) - R4: 4-1 v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Set scores: 3-1, 3-1, 1-3, 3-2, 3-0
Average: 100.42
180s: 3 (0.15 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 2 (High: 120)
Checkout %: 43.3% (13/30) - QF: 5-0 v Chris Dobey
Set scores: 3-1, 3-1, 3-0, 3-0, 3-1
Average: 102.39
180s: 5 (0.27 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 1 (High: 152)
Checkout %: 33.3% (20/60) - SF: 6-0 v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Set scores: 3-2, 3-0, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0, 3-0
Average: 108.28
180s: 9 (0.41 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 1 (High: 170)
Checkout %: 58.1% (18/31)
The only player to give him a little scare was Mensur Suljovic despite posting a massive averaging 107.66! In truth, it wasn't actually that close, with Suljovic's 161 memorable checkout that clinched the fifth set 3-2 merely delaying the inevitable as MVG swiftly bounced back to wrap up the sixth 3-1.
Apart from that it's just been one-way traffic without any hiccups and he's now won 13 sets on the bounce since Dirk van Duijvenbode managed one in his 4-1 victory over his fellow Dutchman. Against Dimitri Van den Bergh he won 15 of 17 legs after the Belgian's 170 checkout put him 2-1 up in the opening set and went on to average over 108.
1940: So how did both players get this far? Let's start with Michael Smith...
- R2: 3-0 v Nathan Rafferty
Set scores: 3-0, 3-0, 3-0
Average: 96.62
180s: 3 (0.33 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 2 (High: 130)
Checkout %: 39.1% (9/23) - R3: 4-3 v Martin Schindler
Set scores: 2-3, 3-0, 2-3, 1-3, 3-2, 3-1, 3-1
Average: 95.36
180s: 6 (0.20 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 2 (High: 170)
Checkout %: 40.5% (17/42) - R4: 4-1 v Joe Cullen
Set scores: 3-2, 0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2
Average: 103.25
180s: 10 (0.48 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 0 (High: 76)
Checkout %: 40% (12/30) - QF: 5-3 v Stephen Bunting
Set scores: 3-2, 0-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-0, 0-3, 1-3, 3-1
Average: 91.63
180s: 6 (0.20 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 0 (High: 87)
Checkout %: 47.1% (16/34) - SF: 6-2 v Gabriel Clemens
Set scores: 3-2, 2-3, 3-2, 2-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2, 3-1
Average: 101.85
180s: 19 (0.51 per leg)
100+ Checkouts: 5 (High: 161)
Checkout %: 43.1% (22/51)
When Michael Smith has been good - he's been very good. Particularly against Joe Cullen and Gabriel Clemens when he produced relentless high-scoring, a barrage of 180s and fairly clinical finishing.
When it's not being going his way against Martin Schindler and Stephen Bunting, he's possessed the necessary fighting spirit and mental strength that he lacked in previous years to drag himself over the line
He will need every ounce of that spirit again - as well as his A-game quality to keep the pressure on MVG.
1930: Time now to take a look at their head-to-head record, which has been bossed by Michael van Gerwen overall since their rivalry started in the youth ranks way back in 2011 but has been much closer in recent times.
- Overall Head-to-Head: 12 - 37
Televised Head-to-Head: 7 - 17
World Championship H2H: 0 - 1 (3-7, 2019 final)
All Tournament Finals: 3 - 8 - Televised/Major Finals: (1 - 2)
8-4 - 2022 US Darts Masters
3-7 - 2019 World Championship
4-11 - 2018 Premier League - 2022 Meetings: 3-5 (TV: 3-5)
8-4 - 2022 US Darts Masters (June)
6-4 - Premier League (May)
6-5 - Premier League (May)
5-6 - Premier League (May)
5-6 - Premier League (May)
5-6 - Premier League (March)
4-6 - Premier League (March)
2-6 - Premier League (March)
Since 2020, MVG only leads 7-6 and pretty much all of those 13 matches in all competitions have been very close. In fact, Michael Smith won 80 legs compared to MVG's 79 in that run of games.
As you can see from the above scorelines from 2020, there's hardly anything in it. Smith finally opened his account against MVG at the sixth time of asking but then won the next two, including the final of the US Darts Masters.
1920: So just how do these two stars compare when it comes to their respective title collections?
- Senior Career PDC titles: 20 - 146
Televised PDC Titles/Finals: 3/14 - 61/82
Titles this season: 6 (TV: 2) - 10 (TV: 5) - PDC World Championship appearances: 11 - 15
PDC World Championship Best: Runner-up (2019, 2022) - Winner (2014, 2017, 2019)
Michael Smith has won plenty of tournaments away from the TV cameras, such as five on the European Tour stages in front of crowds, but this year he finally broke his major duck with the Grand Slam of Darts and also added a third TV title to his resume at the US Darts Masters, where he beat Michael van Gerwen in the final.
1915: This tournament has pretty much had everything. There's been over 850 maximums, six 170 checkouts - including one apiece from tonight's finalists - upsets, dream runs, sudden death drama and bullseye rejection madness!
Remember, van Gerwen did manage a nine-darter in his last major final at the Players Championship Finals.
To get your in the mood for the potential of perfect legs, you can click here to watch every nine-darter in World Championship history.
1905: As well as the final, there's also been a lot of talk about who will make the Premier League Darts line-up and it's fair to say there's lots of contenders bidding for the eight spots available. You can read what our columnist Paul Nicholson had to say about it by clicking here or watch the video of us chatting about it at the Ally Pally below.
1900: Good evening and welcome to our live blog of the PDC's Cazoo World Darts Championship final, where Michael van Gerwen is favourite to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy for the fourth time in his illustrious career but the first since he defeated Michael Smith in the 2019 edition.
Bully Boy is standing in his way once again as he attempts to make it third time lucky on the biggest stage of all having also finished runner-up to Peter Wright 12 months ago when his record-equalling barrage of 24 180s couldn't prevent him losing 7-5.
However, unlike the previous occasions, Smith can finally goes into a final as a major winner thanks to his long awaited breakthrough moment at November's Grand Slam of Darts so there can be no doubting his self-belief.
The St Helens star will need to reproduce his renowned scoring power that we saw against Joe Cullen and Gabriel Clemens in the previous rounds - and then some - just to get close to a rampant MVG, who has averaged well over 100 in all five of his games so far and remarkably only dropped three sets.
Unless, of course, we see a rare off day from the Dutchman at the worst possible time.
That's not very likely, mind, considering he's won titles than anyone else this season with 10 including the Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Players Championship Finals.
There's no denying that it really is a fitting final between the two best players in the tournament and whoever comes out on top will also be crowned as the new world number one.
The final begins at around 2015 GMT so between now and then we'll run through the routes to the final, tournament statistics, head-to-head records and some predictions.
But before we get into the present, here is quick look at the previous finals in the tournament history.
PDC World Darts Championship Finals
Final scores in sets
- 1994 - Dennis Priestley 6-1 Phil Taylor
- 1995 - Phil Taylor 6-2 Rod Harrington
- 1996 - Phil Taylor 6-4 Dennis Priestley
- 1997 - Phil Taylor 6-3 Dennis Priestley
- 1998 - Phil Taylor 6-0 Dennis Priestley
- 1999 - Phil Taylor 6-2 Peter Manley
- 2000 - Phil Taylor 7-3 Dennis Priestley
- 2001 - Phil Taylor 7-0 John Part
- 2002 - Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley
- 2003 - John Part 7-6 Phil Taylor
- 2004 - Phil Taylor 7-6 Kevin Painter
- 2005 - Phil Taylor 7-4 Mark Dudbridge
- 2006 - Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley
- 2007 - Raymond van Barneveld 7-6 Phil Taylor
- 2008 - John Part 7-2 Kirk Shepherd
- 2009 - Phil Taylor 7-1 Raymond van Barneveld
- 2010 - Phil Taylor 7-3 Simon Whitlock
- 2011 - Adrian Lewis 7-5 Gary Anderson
- 2012 - Adrian Lewis 7-3 Andy Hamilton
- 2013 - Phil Taylor 7-4 Michael van Gerwen
- 2014 - Michael van Gerwen 7-4 Peter Wright
- 2018 - Rob Cross 7-2 Phil Taylor
- 2019 - Michael van Gerwen 7-3 Michael Smith
- 2020 - Peter Wright 7-4 Michael van Gerwen
- 2021 - Gerwyn Price 7-3 Gary Anderson
- 2022 - Peter Wright 7-5 Michael Smith
PDC World Darts Championship Most Titles
- Phil Taylor - 14
- Michael van Gerwen - 3
- Peter Wright - 2
- John Part - 2
- Adrian Lewis - 2
- Gary Anderson - 2
- Gerwyn Price - 1
- Rob Cross - 1
- Dennis Priestly - 1
- Raymond van Barneveld - 1
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND AVERAGES
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