Rising star Mitchell Rowley fell short of his goal of making darts history as Jimmy Van See fought back from three sets down to win 6-3 in the WDF World Darts Championship final.
The 15-year-old has broken Luke Littler’s record for being the youngest player to compete in the tournament, and the Scot was aiming to draw further comparisons to ‘The Nuke’ by becoming world teenage champion at Lakeside.
Lowry won the first set in the decider of the final leg and won five of the next six sets to take it to three sets, only for Van See to fight back in a frenzied match in which both players averaged over 93 and had a maximum of 21 shots.
Van See won the fourth set with an 86 finish in the final leg shootout, but struggled to close out the fifth set by nearly nine darters, chipping away at the D18 wire after eight perfect darts.
The Dutchman continued to gain momentum after the interval, defeating Lowry en route to winning the next two sets and running through eight straight sets to open a two-set buffer.
Having won the youth title earlier in the day, Lowry knew his hopes were over with another deciding final leg. There he found the wrong bed while holding a set dart, allowing Van See to win with a double five.
Mitchell Rowley opens up a three-set lead with impressive play
“He’s a really phenomenal player,” Van See told S4C. “He’s a power scorer, very mature for his age and the sky is the limit for him. He had to keep fighting and keep believing in himself (from 3-0 down). He’s such a phenomenal player and the future of darts.”
“Even though we were losing 3-0, I know the crowd favored Mitchell a little bit. He’s got great talent and I understand that. I knew I could do it, so I had to believe in myself and I just proved that. I’m very happy with the win.”
Raleigh had defeated Florian Preis 4-2 in the WDF World Youth Championship final earlier in the afternoon, but was disappointed not to be able to convert his lead against Van See into his second title of the day.
“I had three sets and couldn’t hit anything,” Lowry told S4C. “Honestly, it’s been terrible. It was hard to get here in the first place. I’m not happy about it, but it is what it is.”
Rory’s advance to the world finals made headlines.
“He (Van Shee) hit everything. I hit nothing. To hit the Big 11 for a double (in the final set) is honestly unbelievable. It’s a great accomplishment to get here. The crowd was great, but at the end of the day I wasn’t good enough.”
Hedman wins elusive maiden world title
Deta Hedman, 66, won her first WDF Women’s World Championship, defeating Lelena Rietbergen 4-1 in the final on Sunday afternoon.
Hedman battled back from a set down in the world finals to defeat her opponent, the No. 1 seed and 43 years her junior, avenging her previous three losses.
Rietbergen rattled off finishes of 72 and 64 en route to taking the first set, Hedman equalized in the second, and the veteran won five straight legs to close out the third set with a 112 checkout.
The Dutchwoman recorded four of the highest scores in the final but was unable to catch up with Hedman, who won the next two sets and averaged 72.01 points, becoming the oldest world champion ever on the iconic lakeside stage.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407 from December 10) from 11 December to 3 January. Stream darts and other top sports now.
