Dimitri Van den Bergh

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Dimitri Barbara Peter Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 11.

Dimitri Van den Bergh
Van den Bergh at the 2024 World Grand Prix
Personal information
Full nameDimitri Barbara Peter Van den Bergh[1]
Nickname"The Dreammaker"
Born (1994-07-08) 8 July 1994 (age 30)
Antwerp, Belgium
Home townSint-Truiden, Belgium
Darts information
Darts23g Target Signature Gen 2
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Happy" by Pharrell Williams
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2012–2013
PDC2013–
(Tour Card: 2015-)
Current world ranking11 Decrease 2 (24 November 2024)[2]
WDF major events – best performances
World MastersLast 256: 2013
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipSemi Final: 2023
World MatchplayWinner (1): 2020
World Grand PrixSemi Final: 2024
UK OpenWinner (1): 2024
Grand SlamSemi Final: 2020
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2022
Premier League5th: 2021
PC FinalsLast 16: 2022, 2023
MastersSemi Final: 2024
World Series FinalsRunner Up: 2021
Other tournament wins
Hemeco Open Rosmalen 2016

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2021
Players Championship (NIE) 2021
Players Championship (HIL) 2024

World Series of Darts

Dutch Darts Masters 2022
Nordic Darts Masters 2022

Youth events

PDC World Youth Championship 2017, 2018
PDC Development Tour 2014 (x3), 2015 (x2)
2016, 2017, 2018 (x2)
PDC Challenge Tour 2013
British Teenage Open 2013
Other achievements
2016 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

2018 Hits first televised nine-dart leg at 2018 Grand Slam of Darts against Stephen Bunting[3]
2020 Wins first ranked PDC premier title. Moves into top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

2024 Hits second televised nine-dart leg at 2024 World Matchplay against Martin Schindler[4]
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Belgium
EDF European Ch'ship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Podčetrtek Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 2017 Podčetrtek Men's cricket

Nicknamed "The Dreammaker", he is a two-time back-to-back World Youth Champion.

Van den Bergh has won 9 senior PDC titles, including the World Matchplay and UK Open. He defeated Gary Anderson 18–10 in the 2020 World Matchplay final, in his World Matchplay debut, and defeated Luke Humphries 11–10 in the 2024 UK Open final.

Career

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In 2013, Van den Bergh won the British Teenage Open by beating Billy Longshaw 3–0 in the final.[5] Two months later he claimed the 16th PDC Challenge Tour event of the year by whitewashing Exmouths Charlie Tate 4–0.[6]

2014

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In 2014, he entered Q School in an attempt to earn a PDC tour card, but he couldn't advance beyond the last 64 in any of the four days. However, he was granted PDPA Associate Member status for participating which gave him entry into UK Open and European tour qualifiers.[7] Van den Bergh qualified for the first European Tour event, the German Darts Championship and lost 6–2 in the first round against Ronnie Baxter despite averaging 102.94.[8] Van den Bergh won three youth tour titles during the year and also reached the last 16 of the Under-21 World Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Robinson.[9] He finished top of the Youth Tour Order of Merit which earned him a two-year card for the main PDC tour by [10]

2015

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Van den Bergh claimed two Development Tour titles in 2015.[11] He reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time at the third Players Championship event, but lost 6–5 to Mensur Suljović.[12] Van den Bergh was also knocked out in the second round of three European Tour events.[11] He qualified for the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals but was beaten 6–3 by Max Hopp in the first round in what was Van den Bergh's televised debut.[13][14]

2016

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He qualified for the 2016 World Championship through the European Pro Tour Order of Merit and danced on to the stage before his first round encounter with Ian White.[15] Van den Bergh missed four darts for the first set, but went on to win 3–1 taking out four ton-plus finishes during the match.[16] He lost 4–2 to Benito van de Pas in the following round.[17] Van den Bergh won the 14th Development Tour event by overcoming Steve Lennon 4–2.[18] At the 15th Players Championship tournament Van den Bergh reached the semi-finals of a main tour event for the first time with wins over Devon Petersen, Jan Dekker, Ronny Huybrechts, Chris Dobey and Cristo Reyes, but he lost 6–2 to Michael van Gerwen.[19] In the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, Van den Bergh was beaten 6–3 by Corey Cadby.[20] He won a place at the Grand Slam by coming through the qualifying event and edged his first group match 5–4 over Gerwyn Price.[21] Van den Bergh was then beaten 5–4 by Robert Thornton, but after defeating Scott Waites 5–4 in the final group game it meant he was tied with Thornton on points and leg difference. This meant a nine-dart shoot-out was required to decide who would advance to the knock-out stage and Thornton won by 345 points to 340.[22]

2017

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Van den Bergh's first round match at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set and was on throw, but he missed two darts at double eight to send it to a tie-break, allowing Cristo Reyes to step in and win 3–2.[23] At the end of the year, Van den Bergh became World Youth Champion by defeating Josh Payne 6–3 in the final. He would defend his title the following year by defeating Germany's Martin Schindler in the final.

2018

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At the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarter-finals for the first time, where he lost 5–4 to eventual champion Rob Cross in a tight match. Van den Bergh's debut in the World Series of Darts came with a stellar performance in the 2018 German Darts Masters where he lost in the final to Mensur Suljović 2–8 after defeating Michael van Gerwen 8–3 in the quarter-final and Gary Anderson 8–7 in the semi-final.[24]

2019

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At the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh lost 4–1 to Luke Humphries in the third round. Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Van den Bergh was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against James Wade on night eight in Rotterdam, recording a 6–6 draw. Van den Bergh reached two Players Championship Finals, but lost in both to Glen Durrant and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively. Later in the year, he would qualify for the World Grand Prix for the first time, but he let a 1–0 lead slip and eventually lost 2–1 to Mervyn King. In the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh scored high averages in defeating Josh Payne, Luke Woodhouse and Adrian Lewis, before losing to Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals.

2020

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At the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarter-finals for the second time, there he lost to Nathan Aspinall 5–3. In March he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Open before succumbing to Gerwyn Price. Then, after spending the whole first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK, staying at Peter Wright's house, Van den Bergh pulled off the biggest achievement of his career by winning the 2020 World Matchplay on his debut, after defeating Nathan Aspinall, Joe Cullen, Adrian Lewis, Glen Durrant and Gary Anderson to win the £115,000 top prize, and move him into the Top 10 in the world for the first time.

2021

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At the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh lost 4–2 in the fourth round to Dave Chisnall. In defence of his World Matchplay title, he reached the final, before losing 18–9 to Peter Wright.

Van den Bergh qualified for the 2021 Nordic Darts Masters where he defeated Sweden's Johan Engström 6-4 in the first round, and defeated Gary Anderson 10-8 in the quarter finals before he lost to Fallon Sherrock 11-10 in the semi-finals.

2022

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At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh suffered a shock second round defeat to Florian Hempel.[25] At the Masters he reached the second round, defeating Ian White 6-1 in round 1 with a 105.31 average, but then losing 10-9 to Jonny Clayton in round 2. [26][27] In June 2022, Van den Bergh won the 2022 Nordic Darts Masters, defeating Benjamin Drue Reus, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith en route to a final against Gary Anderson which the Belgian won 11–4.[28]

2023

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At the 2023 PDC World Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarterfinals for the third time and was finally able to progress further, seeing off Jonny Clayton 5–3, and as a result became the first Belgian player to reach the semi-finals of a PDC World Championship.[29] before succumbing to a 6–0 defeat to Michael van Gerwen.[30] In the same year, he and Kim Huybrechts represented Belgium on the World Cup of Darts. However, the two darters seemed to ignore each other during their first game. According to several media, the two players were having an unknown conflict, which they did not solve before the match started. Van den Bergh and Huybrechts did not really explain their behaviour after the game.[31]

2024

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At the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship Van den Bergh was defeated in the second round by Florian Hempel 2–3, despite winning the first two sets, Van den Bergh missed 3 match darts. The match was a repeat of the 2022 second-round tie, which Hempel also won.[32]

Van den Bergh won his second major title at the 2024 UK Open, beating World Champion Luke Humphries in a deciding leg in the final.[33]

World Championship performances

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Career finals

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PDC major finals: 4 (2 title, 2 runner-up)

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Legend
World Matchplay (1–1)
UK Open (1–0)
World Series of Darts Finals (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[a]
Winner 1. 2020 World Matchplay   Gary Anderson 18–10 (l)
Runner-up 1. 2021 World Matchplay   Peter Wright 9–18 (l)
Runner-up 2. 2021 World Series of Darts Finals   Jonny Clayton 6–11 (l)
Winner 2. 2024 UK Open   Luke Humphries 11–10 (l)

PDC world series finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-up)

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Legend
World Series of Darts (2–2)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[a]
Runner-up 1. 2018 German Darts Masters   Mensur Suljović 2–8 (l)
Winner 1. 2022 Nordic Darts Masters   Gary Anderson 11–5 (l)
Winner 2. 2022 Dutch Darts Masters   Dirk van Duijvenbode 8–2 (l)
Runner-up 2. 2023 Poland Darts Masters   Michael van Gerwen 3–8 (l)

Performance timeline

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Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship DNQ 2R 1R QF 3R QF 4R 2R SF 2R
UK Open Did not qualify 1R 6R QF 4R 5R SF W
World Matchplay Did not qualify W F SF 2R QF
World Grand Prix Did not qualify 1R 2R 1R QF 1R SF
European Championship DNQ 1R DNQ 1R DNQ 2R 1R DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ RR DNQ QF RR SF WD DNQ 2R
Players Championship Finals DNQ 2R DNQ 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 3R 1R
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts Did not play C DNP 5th DNP 6th DNP
The Masters Did not qualify 1R 2R 1R SF
PDC World Cup of Darts Did not play SF QF SF 2R QF SF SF
World Series of Darts Finals DNQ 1R DNQ QF 1R DNQ 1R F 2R QF 1R
PDC World Youth Championship 3R 1R SF W W Did not play
Career statistics
Year-end ranking NR 59 51 39 33 29 9 9 11 14

PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2014 GDC
1R
DDM
2R
GDM
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
GDT
2R
EDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
EDT
2R
2015 GDC
DNQ
GDT
2R
GDM
DNQ
DDM
1R
IDO
DNQ
EDO
2R
EDT
DNQ
EDM
2R
EDG
DNQ
2016 DDM
1R
GDM
1R
GDT
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
ADO
2R
EDO
2R
IDO
DNQ
EDT
2R
EDG
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2017 GDC
2R
GDM
DNQ
GDO
3R
EDG
2R
GDT
3R
EDM
DNQ
ADO
1R
EDO
3R
DDM
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
IDO
1R
EDT
1R
2018 EDO
1R
GDG
DNQ
GDO
2R
ADO
3R
EDG
1R
DDM
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
DDO
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDT
DNQ
2019 EDO
3R
GDC
2R
GDG
DNQ
GDO
2R
ADO
DNQ
EDG
2R
DDM
DNQ
DDO
DNQ
CDO
DNQ
ADC
2R
EDM
DNQ
IDO
2R
GDT
2R
2020 BDC
2R
GDC
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
2021 HDT
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
2022 IDO
QF
GDC
SF
GDG
2R
ADO
2R
EDO
F
CDO
3R
EDG
2R
DDC
2R
EDM
3R
HDT
2R
GDO
F
BDO
2R
GDT
2R
2023 BSD
3R
EDO
3R
IDO
2R
GDG
2R
ADO
DNQ
DDC
2R
BDO
2R
CDO
3R
EDG
2R
EDM
3R
GDO
DNQ
HDT
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2024 BDO
1R
GDG
2R
IDO
2R
EDG
WD
ADO
2R
BSD
1R
DDC
3R
EDO
2R
GDC
1R
FDT
1R
HDT
1R
SDT
1R
CDO
1R
Performance Table Legend
W Won the tournament F Finalist SF Semifinalist QF Quarterfinalist #R
RR
L#
Lost in # round
Round-robin
Last # stage
DQ Disqualified
DNQ Did not qualify DNP Did not participate WD Withdrew NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded

Nine-dart finishes

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Dimitri Van den Bergh televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
14 November 2018   Stephen Bunting Grand Slam of Darts 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 £25,000
14 July 2024   Martin Schindler World Matchplay 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 -

Notes

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  1. ^ a b (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

References

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  1. ^ @DanDartsDawson (20 April 2021). "Evidence. The man top of the @unibet..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Dimitri Van den Bergh hits a nine-darter at Grand Slam of Darts". SKY Sports. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  4. ^ "World Matchplay Darts: Dimitri Van den Bergh hits nine-darter as Rob Cross survives scare and Peter Wright goes out". SKY Sports. 14 July 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  5. ^ "2013 British Teenage Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  6. ^ "2013 PDC Challenge Tour England Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  7. ^ "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  8. ^ "German Darts Championship Round One". PDC. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  9. ^ "2014 PDC Under 21 World Championship Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  10. ^ "Brown & Reynolds Earn Youth Wins". PDC. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Dimitri van den Bergh 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  12. ^ "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  13. ^ "2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Qualifier Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  14. ^ "2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  15. ^ "2016 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  16. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  17. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Nine". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  18. ^ "Dean & Dimitri's Development Tour Wins". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  19. ^ "Nine-Dart van Gerwen's Barnsley Double". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  20. ^ "2016 PDC Youth World Championship Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  21. ^ "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  22. ^ "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  23. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  24. ^ "Super Suljovic's German Darts Masters Glory".
  25. ^ "Cazoo World Darts Championship".
  26. ^ "Van den Bergh & Whitlock shine on Ladbrokes Masters Day One".
  27. ^ "Whitlock KO's Wright to reach Ladbrokes Masters quarter-finals".
  28. ^ "Van den Bergh dominates in Denmark to claim Nordic Darts Masters glory". www.pdc.tv. 11 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  29. ^ "Van den Bergh hoping to make his dream 'a reality' at Ally Pally". www.pdc.tv. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  30. ^ "Van Gerwen and Smith to collide in blockbuster World Championship final". www.pdc.tv. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  31. ^ sportredactie, Door onze (16 June 2023). "Belgische teamgenoten negeren elkaar compleet bij zege op World Cup of Darts". NU (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  32. ^ Gill, Samuel (22 December 2023). "Fabulous Florian Hempel produced astonishing great escape to defeat Dimitri Van den Bergh again at World Darts Championship". Darts News. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  33. ^ Gorton, Josh (3 March 2024). "Van den Bergh topples Humphries to claim UK Open glory". PDC. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
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