'It can be brutal' Van Veen learns to fly with the stars after dartitis

Itsthe deciding leg of the European Championship final.

- Jonathan Liew

Gian van Veen, the 23-year-old from the Netherlands chasing his first major title, has just missed two match darts to win 11-9. Luke Humphries, world No 1at the time, starts the final leg witha 140.“Oh, you’ve blown it here,” Van Veen replies when asked to describe his internal monologue in October. “Luke Humphries is not going to crumble under this pressure. Maybe it was a negative thought. But it also released some pressure forme, ina way.”

Feeling a strange kind of relaxation, Van Veen stepped up and pinned amaximum. A couple ofminutes later, with Humphries having missed a match dart of his own, Van Veen took out 100 to win the biggest prize of his career: amoment of high emotion fora sensitive young dartist who had finally managed to make good on his abundant talent.

“I still remember when J hit that double 16, I walked off the stage to my girlfriend, and I fell into her arms. And I said: ‘That’s what we’ve been dreaming of for all these years. This is why I started playing darts. For moments like this?’”

Forall Van Veen’s talent, his journey to the top table has been anything but smooth. He begins this year’s world championship as one of the rising forces in the sport. Butas he learned during his degree in aviation engineering, the fastest route between two points is rarely astraight line. In his own case, the road to Alexandra Palace has been paved with doubt, derision anda crushing case of dartitis that almost forced him out of the game.