Deta Hedman “absolutely over the moon” to reach 4th World Championship final at 66 years old: “I didn’t expect to be here”

Deta Hedman will take one more swing at the only major title missing from her legendary career after powering past Priscilla Steenbergen 3–1 to reach her fourth WDF World Championship final at the age of 66.

Long regarded as the greatest female player never to win the world crown, the “Caribbean Queen” has lost Lakeside finals in 2012, 2014 and 2016 — all of them close, all of them painful. This time, she could barely hide how much the opportunity means. “I’m absolutely over the moon to make the final again,” she said in her post-match interview having seen off her Dutch rival on Sunday afternoon. “Absolutely over the moon.”

Steenbergen struck first, taking out 92 to seal the opening set after earlier opportunities to move 2–0 ahead. But from that moment on, Hedman took control, dropping just a single leg across the next three sets. She levelled the match by sneaking a break in set two, tightened her scoring to run away with the third, and then out-lasted Steenbergen twice on throw in the fourth to seal the win and return to a stage she once feared she’d never see again.

But despite the dominance, Hedman insisted afterwards that the key was simple: taking the last dart when it mattered. “Hitting the last dart. Hitting the doubles,” she said. “If you hit the last dart — you throw the last dart to win — then it is the best darts.”

Hedman’s previous finals came in 2012 (lost 2–1 to Anastasia Dobromyslova), 2014 (lost 3–2 to Lisa Ashton after leading 2–0) and 2016 (lost 3–2 to Trina Gulliver after leading 2–1). Few players in the sport have carried as much heartbreak on the Lakeside stage.

This run, she admitted, was not something she took for granted. “At the start of the year… we’re hoping we win one of the golds so we’re straight there and it takes the pressure off,” she said. “I won Vegas and that relaxed me for the rest of the season. I didn’t think I’d be in the final this week because, as I said, the draw wasn’t very good… so I just thought: see how I go.”

Her path through the event only reinforced that mindset. “When I got through Mikuru Suzuki I just thought: just keep playing like that, take your chance,” she said. “She missed so many doubles… yes, I missed doubles as well, but she missed more than me and that’s what let me in and I took my chance.”

And yet, despite her vast experience, Hedman confessed she still feels every ounce of the pressure. “My God, I think I must have three hearts in here, because each one I play they’re just jumping, jumping, jumping,” she said. “I absolutely don’t have any idea what’s going on — why my heart is just beating like… yeah, it’s just madness.”

In Sunday’s final she will face Lerena Rietbergen, who produced a stunning comeback from 0–2 down to beat Rhian O’Sullivan 3–2.

Hedman was blunt about what it will take: “Most definitely I have to produce more 180s,” she said. “Not even so much 180s — it’s the 140s. If you hit more 140s than 180s, they win more games. But obviously you have to hit the double… if you can’t hit that double then it means nothing.”

After another composed and clinical Lakeside performance, Deta Hedman stands one match away from finally completing the career that has defined women’s darts.