Kai Gotthardt wins PDC Europe Super League 2024, seals World Darts Championship debut

A dream has come true for Kai Gotthardt. The Tunnel fought his way through to the final of the Europe Super League 2024, where he met Paul Krohne. The match went all the way to the decider, where Gotthardt prevailed 8-7. This win means Gotthardt will be competing in the PDC World Darts Championship for the first time in his career.

On his way to the final, Gotthardt defeated Max Hopp 6-5 in the round of 16 and met Franz Rötzsch in the quarter-finals, whom he defeated by the same score. Dominik Grüllich awaited The Tunnel in the semi-finals. This match also went to a decider, which Gotthardt also won after a strong comeback.

Krohne's path required far less energy. In the round of 16, he beat Lukas Wenig 6-4 and in the quarter-finals, Leon Weber was also eliminated 6-4. Krohne then defeated the defending champion Dragutin Horvat 7-0 in the semi-finals.

The final began with a 16-darter from Gotthardt, which he followed up with a break in 14 darts. Krohne got the break back immediately and equalized with a 15-darter to 2-2, before he broke in 17 darts to 3-2 and took a 4-2 lead on his own throw. Gotthardt now took his throw in 15 darts and reduced the deficit to 4-3.

Krohne restored the gap with a 102 finish, but The Tunnel followed up with a 13-darter, took the throw-off from his opponent in 17 darts and then took the lead again at 6-5. Krohne equalized at 6-6 before Gotthardt fended off a Krohne attack with a 180 in the third leg of Gotthardt's leg and took out 18 darts to make the score 7-6.

After Krohne had won his leg to make it 7-7, it was up to The Tunnel to win the match. Both he and Krohne now showed that there was a lot at stake here. While both had played a great match before, they now needed 15 darts to reach the final. Gotthardt nevertheless showed nerves of steel and cleared 86 with three darts to win.

With Kai Gotthardt, six Germans are now represented at the World Darts Championship. This is a new record. A record was already set at the 2024 World Darts Championship with five German participants, which has now been beaten. In addition to Gotthardt, Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens, Ricardo Pietreczko, Florian Hempel and Niko Springer will be competing in London.