Irina Armstrong

Irina Armstrong (Russian: Ирина Армстронг) née Loginova (born 6 December 1970) is a Russian-born German professional darts player who currently plays in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Her biggest achievement to date was advanced to semi-finals in the 2011 BDO World Darts Championship. She is a gold medalist in pairs competitions during the WDF World Cup and WDF Europe Cup.

Irina Armstrong
Personal information
Nickname	"Ice Baby"
Born	(1970-12-06) 6 December 1970 Vologda, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Home town	Gangelt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Darts information
Playing darts since	2001
Darts	23g Unicorn
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2001–2020
WDF	2001–
Current world ranking	(WDF W) NR (5 September 2022)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Semi Final: 2011
World Masters	Semi Final: 2024
World Trophy	Semi Final: 2014
Finder Masters	Semi Final: 2009
Dutch Open	Semi Final: 2011, 2022
Other tournament wins
Belgium Open 2006 Brabant Open 2002 Budapest Classic 2024 Czech Open 2009 Denmark Open 2011, 2012 Dortmund Open 2008 England Open 2009 Estonia Open 2012, 2013 Finnish Open 2007 Flanders Open 2008, 2009 French Open 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 German Gold Cup 2008, 2009 Hungarian Open 2011 Iceland Masters 2023 Luxembourg Open 2011 Slovak Open 2023 Swedish Open 2011 Swiss Open 2010, 2011, 2013
Medal record Women's Darts Representing Russia WDF World Cup 2007 Rosmalen Women's pairs WDF Europe Cup 2008 Copenhagen Women's pairs Representing Germany WDF World Cup 2013 St. John's Women's singles 2015 Kemer Women's team WDF Europe Cup 2014 Bucharest Women's pairs 2014 Bucharest Women's singles 2016 Egmond aan Zee Women's pairs 2016 Egmond aan Zee Women's team 2018 Budapest Women's pairs

Career

Armstrong started out playing ten-pin bowling until she was pregnant and decided to pick up darts. From then, she has quickly risen to be one of the top women players in the world. She picked up wins in the singles and pairs events in the Belgium Open and Finland Open, and followed it up with a win in the German Open pairs with Carina Ekberg of Sweden. Armstrong's greatest achievement to date came at the 2007 WDF World Cup in Rosmalen, Netherlands, where she won the women' pairs title with Anastasia Dobromyslova.

Armstrong's performances in 2008 included wins in the French Open, Dortmund Open, German Gold Cup, Open Holland, and the Primus Masters. She was also the runner-up of the England Open, Swiss Open, and the Danish Open, and moved to as high as third in the world rankings.

Despite her successes during 2008, Armstrong was surprisingly overlooked for a place in the Zuiderduin Masters, a BDO major held in the Netherlands. Having missed out initially on an automatic place for the tournament by just one place, a spot was made available after Anastasia Dobromyslova was forced to withdraw from the competition, but it was given to Lisa Ashton instead, who would go on to win the tournament. Still hoping for a wild card, the card was handed to German player Monique Lessmeister, who at the time was ranked 66 places below Armstrong in the world rankings.

Armstrong continued her good form into 2009 and secured qualification for the Lakeside World Championship by winning the England Open. She also made up for last year's disappointment by ensuring qualification for the Zuiderduin.

International appearances

Armstrong started her international career with her native Russia where she won a gold medal in the Ladies Pairs with Anastasia Dobromyslova. Armstrong always felt though that it was not right playing for Russia as she never played in any Russian ranking events in order to qualify for the team. Having lived in Germany for many years, and with the German organisation asking her on several occasions, Armstrong took time out from international appearances in order to be eligible for the German team. In 2013, she made her debut at the WDF World Cup singles for Germany in Canada where she finished runner up to England's Deta Hedman. This was not her debut for Germany though she had previously played in the Lorna Croft Friendship Cup, helping Germany to win it for the first time in its history. She also played for Germany in the WDF Europe Cup.

Personal life

Armstrong is married to Englishman John Armstrong, with two children, son Christian and daughter Ksenia. She currently resides in Gangelt, Germany and previously lived in the Netherlands. She is fluent in German and English.

Her main hobby outside of darts is making jewellery, which, whilst it started as a hobby, has now become a quickly grown business.

World Championship results

BDO

• 2010: Quarter-finals (lost to Deta Hedman 0–2) (sets)
• 2011: Semi-finals (lost to Trina Gulliver 0–2)
• 2013: Quarter-finals (lost to Sharon Prins 1–2)
• 2014: Quarter-finals (lost to Deta Hedman 0–2)
• 2015: First round (lost to Anastasia Dobromyslova 0–2)

PDC

• 2010: First round (lost to Deta Hedman 0–4) (legs)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
BDO Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNQ				QF	SF	DNQ	QF	QF	1R	DNQ
World Masters	2R	4R	QF	2R	4R	4R	1R	QF	4R	DNQ					NH		2R
World Trophy	NH								SF	1R	DNQ				NH
Finder Masters	NH		DNQ	SF	DNQ	RR	DNQ							NH
Dutch Open	DNP					SF	QF	6R	DNP	QF	DNP			6R	QF	NH	SF	DNP
PDC Non-ranked televised events
Women's World Championship	NH				1R	NH

External links

• Official Website