ANALYSIS: Can Gerwyn Price finally win another major tournament in 2025?

Gerwyn Price is one of the most famous and seasoned darters within the PDC. 'The Iceman' has been active with the PDC since 2014 and managed to win no less than 9 majors in total during this period, culminating in his first and only World Cup title in 2021 with which he was also immediately crowned No. 1 in the world. However, all these victories mainly took place between 2018 and 2021.

The Welshman struggled with his form last year and seemed to have lost the passion and love for darts. There was even speculation that Price might consider putting his darts away for good. Before the start of the 2025 World Darts Championship, however, the 39-year-old let it be known that he wants to focus entirely on darts again. So he looked tormented on his return to the Alexandra Palace and managed to make it to the quarterfinals, where he eventually faced Chris Dobey.

Price seems to have rekindled the fire within himself and has made an excellent start to 2025. The Welshman immediately reached the final at this year's first World Series tournament (the Bahrain Darts Masters). Among others, he defeated the brand new world champion Luke Littler with a spectacular average of over 115(!) in the quarterfinals. In addition, "The Iceman" also managed to win the second Players Championship tournament of 2025. All indications are that Price is eager to revive his old successes this year, but can he also finally break his major drought and win another major tournament for the first time since 2023?

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Breakthrough at the PDC

Price entered the PDC in 2014 after previously being active as a rugby player. In 2015 he managed to qualify for the World Darts Championship for the first time, this was not an instant success, however, as the Welshman went down 3-0 against Peter Wright in the last 64. In 2017, he managed to reach a major final at the UK Open for the first time in his career. Again, it was Peter Wright who was too strong. Later that year, he managed to reach the final of the World Cup of Darts together with Mark Webster. This one was also lost, this time against the Dutch duo Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld.

A year later, it finally hit the ground running for "The Iceman. Price managed to defeat Gary Anderson 16-13 in the final of the Grand Slam of Darts, finally capturing his first Major title. A year later, he managed to prolong his title by beating Peter Wright 16-6 in the final.

2020, however, became the most productive year for the 39-year-old. The Welshman reached his peak form at the perfect time in the autumn and managed to win the World Series of Darts Finals in September by beating Rob Cross 11-9 in the final. A month later, he also won the World Grand Prix after defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode 5-2 in sets. Then in November, he and his good friend Jonny Clayton won the World Cup of Darts by beating the English duo Rob Cross & Michael Smith.

Price then followed up his strong autumn well at the 2021 World Darts Championship. The Iceman" defeated Jamie Lewis (3-2), Brendan Dolan (4-3), Mervyn King (4-1), Daryl Gurney (5-4) and Stephen Bunting (6-4) before taking on Gary Anderson in the final. In the final, the Welshman ultimately proved far too strong for his Scottish opponent. Price recorded an average of 100.08 and was ultimately 7-3 too strong to lift his first World Championship trophy.

Gerwyn Price became world champion at the PDC in 2021

Hate-love relationship with the public

For many years, Price has regularly been booed by the public during tournaments. This is partly due to the fact that Price is very fanatical and present on stage during his matches. After a 180 or important finish, you can often hear a huge shout outside the venue from the Welshman. As with many other players, you have to love it. Some can enjoy his fanaticism, while others may find it over the top. But where did this dislike for Price all start?

For that, we go back to the 2018 Grand Slam final. In that final, Price faced one of the sport's biggest crowd favorites: Gary Anderson. 'The Iceman' tried to pull out all the stops to get the Scot off his game, roaring like never before after every important 180 or good finish. Anderson was visibly annoyed and eventually the kettle boiled over.

At a score of 7-7, Anderson bit off and entered the discussion with Price, something the Welshman may have been hoping for beforehand. 'The Iceman' started shouting heavily from that point on even at 95-scores and smaller finishes. After winning the 20th leg to come back to 11-9, he made several gestures toward Anderson, who walked off stage for the break. At a 13-13 score, Anderson then missed a 136 finish, after which Price threw out 25 to take the lead. In the next leg, however, things went all wrong. The Welshman threw a 174 and then practically screamed in Anderson's face, who then pushed him away. Price eventually managed to win the match 16-13 and by the time he received his trophy, Anderson had already walked off the stage.

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Since that match, a lot of fans have turned against Price. At almost all major tournaments, as well as Euro Tours, the Welshman continues to be booed. It is therefore no coincidence that Price's most successful year was in 2020 and that he managed to win his only World Championship title in 2021. Indeed, this was the corona period when there was no audience.

Tough 2024

2024 went far from smoothly for "The Iceman. It already started with the World Championship at the end of 2023, in which he failed to advance beyond the third round after a 4-2 defeat to Brendan Dolan. The Welshman then decided to pass for the Masters and at the UK Open also failed to advance beyond the fourth round. Things didn't get much better in the next three major tournaments either. At both the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, Price did not advance beyond the second round. And at the European Championship even after the first round it was over for the Welsh dart player. To make matters worse, he also failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts and had to leave the Players Championship Finals after just one round. Price also failed to make an impact in the Premier League Darts, finishing seventh. So where did this setback come from?

During 2024, Price withdrew from tournaments several times. In total, he decided to skip 12 Players Championship tournaments. In addition, he also withdrew from three Euro Tour tournaments. 'The Iceman' seemed to have lost his motivation and no longer wanted to fully focus on darts. News came out that the Welshman had started his own Fish & Chips restaurant and that he was more concerned with that than with darts. Even on stage, you could see that Price was less motivated than during the period when he was winning major tournaments. The roar became less and the fire seemed extinguished. So did this mean the end of his successful years at the PDC?

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Back at the top by 2025?

In late 2024 (before the start of the 2025 Darts World Cup), Price came with the good news that he had decided he wanted to focus on darts again after all. After a difficult year in 2024, "The Iceman" was ready to start 2025 with a fresh start. This became immediately clear during the World Darts Championship. The Welshman looked sharp and managed to make it to the quarterfinals. However, there he fell silent after a 2-0 lead and lost 5-3 to Chris Dobey.

Price also got off to an excellent start at floor tournaments and the Euro Tour this year. At the Bahrain Darts Masters, he managed to reach the final after beating world champion Luke Littler, among others, with a spectacular average of 115.31. In the final, he eventually lost to Stephen Bunting. Price also made it to the semifinals at the TOTO Dutch Darts Master, but lost to Rob Cross. At Players Championship 2 he won the first floor tournament this year.

Last week he also managed to win the third Premier League night in Dublin by beating Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Nathan Aspinall in succession. In doing so, he immediately climbed to second place. The question after this strong start by Price is now: can he finally win another major in 2025 after a three-year drought? The fact that he is looking sharp again at the beginning of this year is already a good sign. And with the UK Open just around the corner, Price might already be with a trophy in his hands sooner than thought.

The next few months should reveal whether Gerwyn Price is definitely back to his old peak level

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