PREVIEW 2026 PDC World Darts Championship: Humphries, Van Gerwen & Van Veen chase a place in the last 16 on star-studded Sunday night

It’s a star-studded night on Sunday evening at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship, with two darting giants aiming to secure a place in the last 16 at the darting spectacle at Alexandra Palace in London, as is ons if the sport's fastest rising stars.

Three matches are scheduled in this evening session. Gian van Veen is on first, taking on Madars Razma. Then Luke Humphries clashes with Gabriel Clemens before Michael van Gerwen closes the session. The three-time world champion faces Arno Merk.
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What a statement Gian van Veen made in his second round after only just starting his tournament with a 3-1 win over Cristo Reyes. The Spaniard already gave Van Veen a stern test, but Alan Soutar also made the 23-year-old from Poederoijen work hard for it. The Scot snatched the opening set and even had a dart to make it 2-0 in sets. Fortunately for Van Veen, that dart landed in double 16 instead of double 8, allowing the Dutchman to level. After that, Van Veen simply steamrolled his opponent. In the third set, ‘GVV The Giant’ brought the Alexandra Palace crowd to its feet with a sublime 170 checkout, and in the fourth set Van Veen produced a 12-darter and an 11-darter. He eventually settled on a 108.28 average, the highest of all players at the World Darts Championship.

Had the bracket held, Van Veen would have faced Dimitri Van den Bergh in round three, but the 23rd seed bowed out in the first round to Darren Beveridge. The Scot, however, also failed to reach the last 32. Madars Razma emerged from this section of the draw. The Latvian opened with a 3-1 victory over Jamai van den Herik, then put in a tidy display against Beveridge. Thanks to a 97.10 average he was ‘Ice Cold’ in a 3-1 sets win.

For ‘Latvian Razmatazz’ it is the third successive time he has reached the last 32 at the Worlds, but he has yet to make the last 16. Van Veen had already claimed his first ever win on the Ally Pally stage earlier in this tournament and therefore stands in the last 32 for the first time. Van Veen and Razma have met several times on the PDC circuit in recent years. From August 2022 through March 2023 the first three encounters all went Razma’s way. They met three more times after that, and Van Veen took all three.

Luke Humphries did drop a set in his opener against Ted Evetts (3-1), but ‘Cool Hand Luke’ has not been troubled at any stage so far. He averaged 98.58 against Evetts, and the 30-year-old Englishman was well on course to obliterate that against darts legend Paul Lim. Humphries showed no sentimental mercy to the 71-year-old veteran and led 2-0 in sets without dropping a leg, averaging close to 110. After the break the focus waned, and he even gifted Lim a leg. A poor third set — barely 83 average — dragged his overall down to 97.21. Still, Humphries will take plenty of confidence, as he is regarded as the biggest threat to defending champion Luke Littler.

Many were already eyeing a third-round showdown with Wessel Nijman, but Gabriel Clemens personally put a stop to that. The 2023 World Championship semifinalist endured a miserable 2025, yet salvaged his year somewhat by unexpectedly reaching the last 32 in London. The German began with a resounding 3-0 win over Alex Spellman and again avoided dropping a set against Nijman. ‘The German Giant’ handed the Dutchman a painful 3-0 defeat.

Clemens will know he must find another gear against Humphries. Humphries will not hand out as many gifts as Nijman did in round two. One positive for the 42-year-old from Saarwellingen is that his record against Humphries isn’t bad. Of their ten previous meetings with the current world number two, Clemens has won four. Their latest encounter came at the Players Championship Finals in November 2024, when Humphries won 6-2. Two months earlier, Clemens edged a Euro Tour tie 6-5.

Michael van Gerwen has reached the last 16 at the Worlds thirteen times, and ‘Mighty Mike’ owes it to his stature to make it fourteen on Sunday night. It nearly went wrong in round one against Mitsuhiko Tatsunami, but after escaping a 0-2 deficit, Van Gerwen beat the Japanese player 3-1. His second match against William O’Connor also ended 3-1, but it was clearly a different Van Gerwen at the oche. The Vlijmen native looked sharper, hungrier, and produced a strong display against the man who had posted the highest average of round one. With a 100.20 average, the Irishman was brushed aside 3-1.

Van Gerwen being in the last 32 is no surprise. His opponent Arno Merk certainly is. Beating Kim Huybrechts on his World Championship debut was impressive enough, but Merk then sealed the biggest win of his career by sending two-time world champion Peter Wright packing. The German showed no respect for the colorful Scot and floored ‘Snakebite’ 3-0 in sets.

Now a clash with another titan of the sport awaits Merk. For the 33-year-old from the German town of Peine, it will be his first-ever meeting with Van Gerwen.