"He's one of the best players ever but he's also a part-timer" - Van Gerwen ready to renew rivalry with Gary Anderson at European Championship 2024

Michael van Gerwen has made an excellent start to the 2024 European Championship. The 35-year-old Dutchman comfortably dispatched home crowd favourite Gabriel Clemens 6-1 in the first round in Dortmund on Thursday night.

Van Gerwen clocked in at 100.01 average. “You always need to be sharp in this short format,” insisted the mighty Dutchman, one of five former champions in the 32-player field, in his post-match press conference afterwards. “I am enjoying my darts again and I think you need to have that if you want to perform well. You want to keep performing well, because there’s still a lot to fight for, and I think this is a really important tournament for me.”

Van Gerwen has been at the top of the darts world for more than a decade now, but recently some new names have joined the ranks, including Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and most recently, World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker. "The sport evolves, which is a good thing," Van Gerwen insists. "I've been around for a long time and then everything can sometimes happen on automatic pilot. However, I have to keep reinventing myself to stay at the top, which is a motivation that keeps driving me."

As mentioned, 'Mighty Mike' will take on Gary Anderson in the second round in a mouthwatering renewal of their rivalry on the big stage. "Gary and I know each other well," Van Gerwen previews. "He's one of the best players I have ever seen in my life. But he's also a part-timer. I'm enjoying the darts again. I'm gonna fight for everything, I'm feeling good."

Finally, Van Gerwen also looks back at last week's Czech Darts Open. The Dutchman lost 6-1 to Littler in the quarterfinals. Remarkably, Van Gerwen achieved a 112.19 average but was still left hopeless against an unstoppable Littler, who himself posted an average of 110.57. "I wasn't even angry with myself. Things like that happen in sports and when I still played a really good game and my scoring power was there, the absolute will to win was there."