Van Gerwen loses more than 20 kilos ahead of PDC World Darts Championship: "Don’t have a six-pack either, I’m no Brad Pitt"

Michael van Gerwen begins this World Darts Championship with a different aura than in previous years. Physically changed, mentally reset, yet openly critical of the PDC’s new prize money model. He has had a year in which private worries and sporting disappointments piled up, but in which he also began a clear transformation.

“I’ve lost more than twenty kilos and we’re not there yet. I still need to drop about ten,” he says on the Darts Draait Door podcast. “Part of it comes from living and moving consciously, but part was due to stress. In a long relationship you fall into a rut where you don’t put yourself first. Now I do, and that matters.”

Close friend Vincent van der Voort, his long-time confidant on the international circuit, saw up close how Van Gerwen went through a difficult spell. “At first he lost weight quickly because of stress. He would just not eat all day, also because he didn’t feel hungry. Then it goes fast,” says Van der Voort.

The World Darts Championship comes at a time when Van Gerwen is finally seeking balance again between elite sport and private life. At the same time, he is working on himself physically. Eating less, moving more, different priorities. His padel court now proves more important than the gym.

“I find the gym mind-numbing. On the padel court you meet people, it’s fun and it keeps me active. A lesson now and then, that suits me. I need to work on myself a bit, that’s only sensible.”

That effort leads to visible results—and to practical problems. Van der Voort laughs that kit supplier Winmau is “going mad” over the constantly changing sizes. Van Gerwen replies dryly: “I’m not going to throw in pajamas, am I? And I don’t have a six-pack either, I’m no Brad Pitt.”

While Van Gerwen is building a new physical base, the world in which he has to perform is changing too. This World Championship is the first event where the PDC has explosively increased its prize fund. The top prize surpasses the one million pound mark for the first time; all rounds have doubled compared to last year.

The three-time world champion calls it a historic step, but immediately adds a caveat. “We’d never have dared dream of that all these years,” he says. “But I just don’t think the distribution is fair.” The runner-up gets “only” £400,000. “I think the place after the winner should never be less than half. The PDC only flaunts the top prize.”

According to Van Gerwen, behind that seemingly generous increase lies a structural problem that could hit the PDC itself. “The problem is that the world champion can soon say he hardly needs to play any other tournament. Whoever that is.”

Because the Order of Merit is entirely based on prize money, the Worlds threatens to weigh even more heavily than it already did. In all other tournaments the prizes will rise from 2026 onwards, but nowhere near at the same pace. The risk: a ranking skewed by distorted proportions.

Van der Voort shares that concern. “If you win a million and then only play a few more tournaments, you don’t have to show up anywhere else. Your position at the top is no longer in danger. That puts the PDC in a tricky spot.”

Van Gerwen illustrates the difference with a real-world example. “I need to win 600 Pro Tours and then I still don’t have enough. That’s winning all floor events for twenty years. What’s that about?! That can’t be right, can it?”