World Darts Championship Includes Viral Back-and-Forth Leg in Final

The most important sporting feat of 2023 may already be in the books.

In the 2023 PDC World Championship, Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith partook in some high-level competition.

In the third leg of the second set in a first-to-seven set darts match, the two athletes went back-and-forth, with all but one dart hitting the intended target. Van Gerwen hit his first eight shots, but missed his attempt at a double twelve. That left the door open for Smith, who nailed all nine of his darts for what might have been the best leg of World Championship darts in recent memory.

Nine darts is the minimum number of darts needed to win a leg, so hitting a nine-darter in one leg is the peak of a darts competition. It feels like every year at the World Darts Championships, a nine-darter goes viral for how impressive it is combined with how great the crowd is.

In the end, Smith held off a van Gerwen comeback to take the PDC World Darts Championship. Yet, it all started with a perfect leg in what would be the first set he won in the match.