“Everything was perfect, even a nine-darter – and then I collapsed”: Florian Hempel still can’t explain his World Championship qualifier meltdown

After a strong start to 2025, it looked as though Florian Hempel was finally turning a corner. He’d booked his place at the Winmau World Masters and reached the quarter-finals at Players Championship 2, signs that pointed towards a much-needed upswing.

But the year ended painfully: Hempel missed out on qualifying for the World Darts Championship and also lost his Tour Card. Speaking openly on the Game-On podcast with Elmar Paulke, the Cologne thrower reflected on the qualifier that left him stunned.

Hempel has been in this position before. Two years ago he also had to go through the PDPA Qualifier, and on that occasion he produced the decisive run to reach the World Championship — saving his Tour Card in the process. But in 2025, that feat wasn’t repeated. The PDPA Qualifier is seen as the last lifeline for Tour Card holders who haven’t yet made the Worlds.

“I knew the tournament, I was absolutely certain I’d do it that day. I was convinced I’d win at least one or two matches. I felt very confident, the trip there was brilliant,” Hempel recalled.

His preparation sounded just as promising. “I’d warmed up unbelievably well, thrown some really great darts. I even hit a nine-darter in practice. I was so on point. Whether it was scoring or doubles — everything felt perfect,” he continued. He even told his companion Daniel: “I’m not losing a leg today.” Paulke added: “And you’d done it before — you knew how it works.” Hempel agreed: “Exactly. I knew everything, I felt comfortable, I was just very confident.”

With that mindset, he went into his opening match against Robert Grundy. Three wins would have taken him to Ally Pally — and kept his Tour Card hopes alive. But the Englishman won the bull. “I thought: happens, you’ll just break him,” Hempel said. From there, though, the momentum turned.

“At 2–1 I had three clear darts at tops. They all missed. And then suddenly nothing worked with the scoring. I wasn’t hitting anything, I got nervous, I couldn’t control it. I just collapsed,” he said of the key phase. “Then you try to force it in somehow with grit and fight. But I couldn’t relax, there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders.” Even when chances came for 5–5 and 5–6, he squandered them both. “All the feeling I’d had beforehand was completely gone. I couldn’t get it back.”

To this day he still doesn’t know exactly why it all went wrong. “It was probably a mix of not enough match practice, impatience, not enough confidence in that moment — and an unbelievable amount of pressure. Pressure I really didn’t need to feel. Of course you want to reach the Worlds, of course you need them for the Tour Card. But that’s been the case for the last three years.”

His conclusion is a blunt one: “This year didn’t go the way I wanted it to, sportingly. And I didn’t do everything I could have to be successful. We’ve spoken often enough about how there was simply too much going on left and right.”