The next generation is here: Gian van Veen breaks ancient Phil Taylor record as Wessel Nijman usurps Adrian Lewis in defeat

Group H was dubbed prior to the Grand Slam of Darts as the group of death at the Grand Slam of Darts. This expectation was fully realized. The six matches in this pool were all spectacular and some even historic.

Group winner Gian van Veen has secured a place in the history books. 'GVV The Giant' was thought to have perhaps the least chance of making it to the knockout stage prior to the event, but became the group winner after victories over Josh Rock (5-2), Stephen Bunting (5-1) and Wessel Nijman (5-4).

In doing so, the 22-year-old darter noted averages of 110.39, 114.71 and 103.99, respectively. Combined, his average ended at 108.89. This represented a considerable improvement on Phil Taylor's group stage record. 'The Power' set this record in 2014. Back then, Taylor threw averages of 100.20, 114.65 and 106.47, bringing the 16-time world champion to a combined average of 107.12.

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Not only did Van Veen set a record, Nijman also had a remarkable performance at the Grand Slam of Darts. The 24-year-old Dutchman threw averages of 106.51, 105.59 and 111.10, but bizarrely for Nijman, it did not result in a single point. His average of 111.10 in his lost match against Van Veen (5-4) was the highest losing average ever at the Grand Slam of Darts. The old record was held by Adrian Lewis, who had a losing match average of 110.99 in 2013. Nijman additionally had a combined group stage record of 107.70, which was also higher than Taylor's old record, which was thus broken by Van Veen.

In addition, for the first time in the history of the Grand Slam of Darts, there is a group where the overall average was above 100. When you lump the 12 averages from the six matches together, a combined group average of 105.66 comes out.