ANALYSIS: How Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall have reinvented themselves in 2024

Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright have been turning heads in the PDC for years. In recent weeks, they again showed their class by both winning a tournament. Chisnall was the best at the Flanders Darts Trophy, Wright at the German Darts Championship.

The PDC introduced the system of Tour Cards in 2011. Only 15 players have managed to keep their Tour Card continuously for 14 seasons, and no two players have maintained such consistently high rankings during this period as Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright.

Still, things did not always go smoothly, especially for Chisnall. Between 2016 and 2019, he was winless in 27 consecutive matches against then world number one Michael van Gerwen and lost five televised finals. He won just enough to briefly reach a top-five position, but never enough to seriously challenge Van Gerwen.

Wright, on the other hand, did better in mutual duels with Van Gerwen, but often failed in major finals. In fact, he lost his first 12 of his first 13 TV finals before finally winning the biggest of them all at the 2020 World Darts Championship, sealing his place amongst the darting elite.

Remarkably, both Wright and Chisnall have achieved the most success in their careers well beyond the average age of 35 for PDC Tour Card holders, and their most recent results on the European Tour confirm their resilience and longevity after some 15 years plus of continuous professional darts.

Chisnall has managed to reinvent himself after the pandemic as a reliable and efficient player along the lines of James Wade. He still throws more 180s than the average player. However, if we look at his statistics compared to a few years ago we see a decline, in averages, doubles and 180s, while the overall PDC average has steadily increased. Strange? Not really, Chisnall is there at the times when it really matters and is very strong both in terms of scoring ability and on his doubles at just the right monents.

For Peter Wright, the comparison between 2024 and the height of his career is probably even less favorable - after all, Wright won five European Tour titles in 2017, beating Michael van Gerwen in two of those finals. In no year before or since did Wright win more titles, come closer to winning the Premier League Darts or have better results in ranking tournaments.

By contrast, 2024 has been a lean year for "Snakebite" - his win in Hildesheim was the first time this year he reached the quarterfinals of a ranking tournament and Wright has posted some of the lowest averages of his career. Still, Wright showed recently by winning the German Darts Championship that he can still compete at the top. He no longer throws high averages on a regular basis either, but when he is in form, he is still there at the times when he really needs to be, for example, he is even more accurate on his doubles now than he was a few years ago.

Professional darters don't have to be Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen to survive 15 years in the PDC, but they do have to reinvent themselves, and Chisnall and Wright are proving this year.