The second German reached the second round of the Darts World Cup in London. Gabriel Clemens achieved his first success at a major tournament after a two-year dry spell. A highlight in the first set should also give the Saarlander self-confidence.
Gabriel Clemens was relieved. He hadn’t experienced this feeling in a long time. Almost exactly two years ago to the day, the Saarland native won his last game at a major tournament, if you exclude the qualifying round of the World Masters. The dry spell lasted exactly 723 days. The relief is correspondingly great.
The 3-0 win against the weak American Alex Spellman at the 2026 Darts World Cup was the first win since his second-round win against Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong at the 2024 World Cup. Since then, there have been six opening defeats at the major events, he was eliminated in the preliminary round at the World Masters, and he was unable to qualify for the major tournaments seven times.
Since there have been hardly any presentable results on the European Tour since then and he has won less than half of his games this season, it is almost a bit surprising that the semi-finalist of the 2023 World Cup is still ranked 47th in the Order of Merit.
“I didn’t have a good year, there was tension and my self-confidence isn’t that great. Absolutely clear. But I always had good memories of the Ally Pally,” said Clemens after his victory.
But why bother with negative series? Clemens proved to his opponent and everyone else in the second leg that he still has it. After he had made it 1-0, he checked 170 points to break. The Big Fish – a really big exclamation point.
Clemens wins the first eight legs
The first set went to nil for the German, and in the second round no 90 average was needed to keep Spellman at bay. Legs number four, five and six all went to Clemens. Spellman only had two attempts at doubles in the first two rounds.
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To the joy of the German colony. In addition to numerous fans wearing German Giant jerseys, World Cup debutants Arno Merk and Lukas Wenig also sat in Alexandra Palace and cheered on their compatriot.
Merk booked her ticket to round two on the first evening of the World Cup with a win over Kim Huybrechts. Wenig will be the third German in action on Sunday evening (8 p.m., Sport1 and DAZN live) against Dutchman Wesley Plaisier.
Clemens became increasingly confident. The fact that he gave his opponent a leg when the score was 2-0 in the third set was unimportant. And while there was still a little room for improvement in the scoring with an average of 90.93, the 42-year-old’s double rate rose to 50 percent in the end: the 18th attempt meant the ninth goal and the victory, which will also let him go into 2026 a little more relaxed.
The 25,000 pounds in World Cup prize money, which is already secure, provides a cushion so that you can stay out of the fight for the last tour cards at the end of the year.
Previously, the favorites had not exposed themselves. Luke Humphries ensured an easy 3-0 win over Ted Evetts with an average of 98.58. And Wessel Nijman, Clemens’ next opponent in round two, also impressed. The young Dutchman lost only three legs in the 3-0 win against Czech Karel Sedlacek and played an average of 100.91 points.
For Humphries, however, there will be a reunion that could bring back bad memories. Five years ago, despite a 2-0 set lead, he was eliminated in the first round against Paul Lim. Now he meets the legend from Singapore again. Lim opened Saturday evening with a sensational 3-1 over Jeffrey de Graaf and, as a 71-year-old, is sensationally in the second round.
If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also something off-kilter like football.
Darts World Cup 2026, results, 1st round
- Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL) – David Davies (WAL) 0:3 (2:3, 0:3, 2:3)
- Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Cam Crabtree (ENG) 3:1 (3:0, 3:0, 2:3, 3:0)
- Luke Woodhouse (ENG/25) – Boris Krcmar (CRO) 3:1 (2:3, 3:0, 3:2, 3:1)
- Gary Anderson (SCO/14) – Adam Hunt (ENG) 3:2 (3:2, 2:3, 2:3, 3:1, 3:1)
- The Graphy (SWE) – Paul Lim (SIN) 1:3 (1:3, 3:1, 2:3, 2:3)
- Wessel Nijman (NED/31) – Karel Sedlacek (CZE) 3:0 (3:1, 3:1, 3:1)
- Luke Humphries (ENG/2) – Ted Evetts (ENG) 3:1 (3:0, 3:1, 1:3, 3:1)
- Gabriel Clemens (D) – Alex Spellman (USA) 3:0 (3:0, 3:0, 3:1)
