Was 2016/17 a Golden Era for World Darts?

At this year's PDC World Darts Championship, we witnessed one of the best legs of darts ever seen as Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen both had a shot at a nine-dart finish during the final. The Dutchman missed by millimetres before the Englishman hit double 12 to send the Alexander Palace crowd wild.

It was the only nine-darter of the 2023 tournament but also only the second thrown in a world final after Adrian Lewis' effort against Gary Anderson in 2011. But how did the tournament rank in terms of overall quality compared to other years? To get an idea, we can look at some of the key statistics.

In the 2023 World Championship, the highest three-dart average was 108.28, which was achieved by Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final. He also had the second-highest average at 107.86 in Round Three. So, it is no surprise that the Dutchman has already been priced at odds of 11/4 to win next year's event, according to Bodog, which is considered to be one of the best websites for online betting in Canada. Evidently, sportsbooks and darts pundits expect big things from the 33-year-old in upcoming tournaments. Indeed, only reigning champion Michael Smith is priced lower at 5/2. But how does that average from Van Gerwen stack up compared to previous years?

The figure is outside the top 10 all-time averages achieved in the event. And well behind the record-breaking 114.05 achieved by Van Gerwen in the 2017 semi-final against fellow countryman Raymond van Barneveld.

In that 2017 semi-final, Barney also had the highest losing average at a World Championship with 109.34. In fact, that losing number was the fourth-highest average in World Championship history, making that match the benchmark for the tournament. So, does that mean 2017 was a peak year for darts?

If we look at televised nine-dart averages across all competitions, two of the top three occurred in 2017. Those were 121.97 for Kim Huybrechts in the quarter-final of the World Cup. And a 119.50 for Peter Wright in the league stage of the Premier League. The highest televised average of all time (123.40) was thrown by Michael van Gerwen in the 2016 Premier League.

The Dutchman also threw the sixth-best average of all time in that same event. So, four of the six highest televised averages of all time were landed between April 2016 and June 2017. The other two were thrown by 14-time world champion Phil Taylor in 2009 and 2010.

The top four matches with the highest combined averages were also played in this period. The highest was the 2017 Premier League game between Peter Wright and Adrian Lewis, which ended with a combined average of 228.65.

The other three matches were also played in the Premier League. No. 2 was Van Gerwen vs Wright in 2016 (225.65), next was Taylor vs Chisnall in 2016 (224.88), and the fourth was Van Gerwen vs James Wade in 2017 (224.44).

The 2017 World Championship final also had the most 180s in a single match at the event with 42 thrown by Gary Anderson (22) and Michael van Gerwen (20). In 2017, Michael van Gerwen also became the first player to average over 100 in every match of a season.

Overall, it does seem that the 2016 and 2017 seasons were a golden age in terms of high scoring in darts. Many predicted the game would decline after Phil Taylor's last World Championship win in 2013. But if anything, the standard got higher, and Taylor could no longer compete.

It is no surprise "The Power" finally called it a day in 2018 after a season of record-breaking averages from his rivals. A 7-2 World final defeat to Rob Cross convinced Taylor he could no longer compete with the younger generation, although he has since returned to the senior level. Darts reached its pinnacle but also lost a legend in the space of a year.