'Mighty Mike' will be out to land his second world crown in north London
Saturday 31 December 2016 12:21, UK
Michael van Gerwen's trophy cabinet is bulging at the seams ahead of his return to Alexandra Palace, but somewhat surprisingly, the new King of Darts has only one World Championship title to his name.
The Dutchman has a remarkable 20 major titles in the cabinet, including multiple triumphs at every televised event, but when it comes to the biggest stage of them all, he's failed more often than not.
From his BDO days, right through his rise in the PDC, it's been a painful experience for the usually dominant force of darts.
Many critics believe the format of the World Championship simply does not suit his style, but he's won it once and will be determined more than ever to win it again in 2017.
Reigning and defending champion Gary Anderson, 16-time winner Phil Taylor, Peter Wright, Adrian Lewis and compatriot Raymond van Barneveld are sure to have a say on proceedings.
Despite winning several titles in the BDO, Van Gerwen always seemed destined to move to the PDC. But before his much-anticipated move, he was out to claim the Lakeside World title in 2007. Despite all the hype before the tournament, he went out after defeat to Gary Robson in the first round.
Van Gerwen spent his formative years in the PDC honing his skills and slowly climbing up the rankings. He was such a natural talent that the biggest stars of the game were more than aware of his imminent threat.
His first taste of the Allly Pally oche was not a good experience though. He was defeated 6-4 in legs by Arron Monk in the final of the inaugural PDC Under-21 World Championship.
This was the Dutchman's breakthrough year as he made it to the last 16 for the first time with wins against Colin Osborne and Mervyn King. And after losing nine out of the first ten legs to Simon Whitlock, he produced a sensational fightback to level the match at 3-3, before succumbing in the deciding set.
Van Gerwen reached his first World Championship final, but it proved to be a long and strenuous road. He defeated Mr nine-darter himself Paul Lim, and then Peter Wright and Colin 'Jaws' Lloyd, before dethroning two-time winner Adrian Lewis in the quarter-finals.
During his semi-final victory against James Wade, the brilliant Dutch star threw 17 perfect darts before missing one dart at double 12 that would have seen him become the first player ever to hit back-to-back nine-darters.
In the final, Van Gerwen had the mighty Phil Taylor on the ropes, but missed two crucial darts which would have handed him a 5-2 lead.
Taylor rallied to win five successive sets to win his 16th title 7-4, but the youngster's performances won him the respect of his darting peers and guaranteed him a spot in the Premier League for the first time.
The defeat to Taylor made Van Gerwen even more determined to finally clinch his first world title and it duly arrived a year later.
He defeated Zoran Lerchbacher and Kevin McDine before fighting back to edge out Gary Anderson 4-3 in the third round. Van Gerwen then beat former BDO World Champion Mark Webster to set up a tantalising semi-final meeting against Adrian Lewis.
The brilliant Dutch thrower annihilated a stunned Lewis 6-0 with an average of 103.02 to set up a meeting with surprise finalist Peter Wright. And despite a few nerve-jangling moments, he collected the biggest prize in the sport thanks to a 7-4 success.
Van Gerwen breezed into the semi-finals with a record-breaking average of 105.26 over Robert Thornton in the quarter-finals and looked untouchable.
But his reign as world champion came to an end against a resurgent Gary Anderson in the semi-finals, suffering a stunning 6-3 loss to 'The Flying Scotsman' which left him deflated.
The World Championship can throw up some tasty early clashes and earlier this year, Van Gerwen was unlucky enough to come up against fellow Dutchman and five-time winner Raymond van Barneveld in the third round.
He needed a tie-break to beat Rene Eidams in the first round, but followed it up with a mind-blowing 109.23 average during a 4-0 whitewash over Darren Webster.
Next up was Barney and there was no real surprise as it went the distance. In a match that lived up to all expectations, the pair battled arrow for arrow in a match of the highest calibre.
Van Barneveld had the advantage of throwing first in the final set and got an early break to earn a 2-0 lead but was immediately broken back thanks to a superb 10-dart leg.
Then, with just 80 needed to level the game Van Gerwen missed tops allowing his old foe to wrap up victory by taking out 96 with two darts.
You can watch the PDC World Darts Championship final from Thursday 15th December - live on Sky Sports. Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get six months half price
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