"That was badly needed": Revitalized Michael van Gerwen delights Vincent van der Voort after Göttingen heroics

Michael van Gerwen endured a tough start to the 2025 season. While he managed to reach the World Championship final at the beginning of the year—losing 7-3 to Luke Littler—it was mostly downhill from there, with a string of disappointing performances.

That changed last week when Van Gerwen showed clear signs of improvement. He reached the final on Night 7 of the Premier League Darts and followed it up with a semi-final appearance at the European Darts Trophy.

On stage, Van Gerwen looked revitalised—full of energy, just like the dominant player of years past. “That was badly needed,” said close friend Vincent van der Voort on the Darts Draait Door podcast. “We’ve spoken about it a lot. He needed to show more energy, because that brings more adrenaline. I think he’s doing a great job picking that up.”

“Normally, Michael never looks back at his matches, so he had no idea how flat he’d been,” Van der Voort continued. “We tried to show him some clips, and then he started to realise it himself. You don’t have to only watch your highlights—we all know those—but sometimes you can learn more from watching your low points.”

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Lacking Urgency

Until last week, Van Gerwen often appeared lacklustre on stage—something that frustrated Van der Voort. “That has to go. And in Cardiff and Göttingen, it looked a lot better. He should’ve rewarded himself there, because he had a real chance to win that Euro Tour event. The bar needs to be raised again, but you can’t expect that instantly. He’s coming from a long way back. Over the past two years, he’s managed decent results on pure talent, but truthfully, the standard has been well below what we expect.”

Still, Van der Voort warns against getting carried away. He believes patience is key. “Rebuilding takes time… but he’s definitely on the right path.”

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