Jurjen van der Velde (born 4 December 2002) is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a JDC World Darts Champion, winner of the World Youth Masters and a multi-medalist at the WDF Europe Cup Youth.

Jurjen van der Velde
Personal information
Full nameJurjen van der Velde
Born (2002-12-04) 4 December 2002 (age 21)
Zevenhuizen, Netherlands
Home townZevenhuizen, Netherlands
Darts information
Playing darts since2015
Darts23g Winmau
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Crazy Crazy Nights" by Kiss
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2018–2020
PDC2019–
(Tour Card: 2023-)
WDF2018–2022
Current world ranking84 Steady (17 November 2024)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World MastersLast 32: 2022
Dutch OpenQuarter Final: 2022
PDC premier events – best performances
UK OpenLast 96: 2023
Other tournament wins
PDC Challenge Tour 2022 (x2)

Youth events

PDC Development Tour 2021, 2022, 2024
JDC World Ch'ship 2018
World Youth Masters 2018
German Open 2018
Next Talent of Darts 2018
West Fries Open 2018
Toon Greebe Youth Open 2018
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Netherlands
WDF World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Cluj Boys singles
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Cluj Boys pairs
WDF Europe Cup Youth
Gold medal – first place 2018 Ankara Boys singles
Gold medal – first place 2018 Ankara Boys team
Gold medal – first place 2018 Ankara Boys overall
Gold medal – first place 2019 Ankara Boys pairs
Gold medal – first place 2019 Ankara Boys overall
Silver medal – second place 2019 Ankara Boys pairs
Silver medal – second place 2019 Ankara Boys team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Ankara Boys pairs

Career

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Jurjen is considered to be one of the most talented youth players ever and was already able to win a large part of the most important youth titles at the age of 15. The Dutchman made his breakthrough in 2018 after having had very good results with the NDB (Dutch Dart Association) for some time. At the German Open, van der Velde celebrated his first big youth title. After a strong performance, he only lost one leg in the semi-finals, followed by a whitewash in the final.

Jurjen also won the singles competition at the 2018 WDF Europe Cup Youth, defeated Keane Barry in the decider leg. In the team competition and the general classification, he also won a gold medals, and in the pair competition – silver.[2] This was followed by victory at the World Youth Masters, where he again won the deciding leg against Keane Barry. As a result, van der Velde was invited to the 2018 Finder Youth Darts Masters, but was narrowly eliminated in the group-stage.[3] He ended the year of success with a victory in the JDC World Darts Championship against Lennon Cradock.

In 2019, he was invited by the home federation to participate in the 2019 WDF World Cup for the youth players and to participate in the 2019 WDF Europe Cup Youth. During the WDF World Cup, he won two bronze medals in youth competitions.[4] In the singles tournament, he was surprisingly eliminated in a semi-finals match against Mehrdad Seyfi. During WDF Europe Youth Cup, he won two gold and two silver medals.[5]

In 2019, he also plays at the PDC Development Tour and reached Last 16 phase on his first weekend.[6] Good results throughout the PDC Development season allowed him to take part in the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship. In the tournament, he joined the group with Joe Davis and Max Hopp. After two matches lost, he ended his participation in the group-stage.

In 2020, he only made the Last 32 phase once in ten events on the Development Tour and his career slowed down a bit. At the 2020 PDC World Youth Championship he was eliminated in the group-stage by losing to Ted Evetts, but he finished second thanks to a victory over Vilém Šedivý. In 2021, he won his first Professional Darts Corporation event at the youth's stage and qualified for the 2021 PDC World Youth Championship. He went to a very difficult group with Kevin Doets, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez and Fabian Schmutzler, where he lost all matches and took last place in his group.

In early 2022, he qualified for the 2022 UK Open, despite missing a tour card at PDC Q-School. He defeated Mickey Mansell in the first round by 6–4 in legs. In the second round he faced Jim Williams and lost to him by 3–6 in legs.[7] At the beginning of May 2022, he had his second victory on the PDC Development Tour before celebrating his first triumphs on the PDC Challenge Tour in July and September.[8] Meanwhile, in June 2022, he participated in the 2022 Dutch Open and was eliminated in the quarter-finals, lost to eventual winner Jelle Klaasen by 2–5 in legs.[9]

Performance timeline

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Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
PDC Ranked televised events
UK Open DNQ 2R 3R 2R
WDF Ranked televised events
Winmau World Masters DNP NH 3R PDC
Dutch Open DNP NH QF PDC
PDC Non-ranked televised events
World Youth Championship RR RR RR RR 3R
Career statistics
Year-end ranking (PDC) 216 114

PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2023 BSD
DNQ
EDO
1R
IDO
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
BDO
DNQ
CDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
GDO
DNQ
HDT
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2024 BDO
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
BSD
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
FDT
DNQ
HDT
DNQ
SDT
DNQ
CDO
DNQ
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

References

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  1. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 17 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
  2. ^ "2018 WDF Europe Cup Youth". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Jurjen van der Velde". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  4. ^ "2019 WDF World Cup Youth". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  5. ^ "2019 WDF Europe Cup Youth". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Jurjen van der Velde". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Jurjen van der Velde". mastercaller.com. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Van der Velde & Kist seal Dutch double on Winmau Challenge Tour". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Klaasen and Greaves seal 2022 Dutch Open Darts titles". dartsnews.com. 12 June 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.