Niko Springer surprisingly did not join the German series of successes at the Darts World Championship. Two hours after Ricardo Pietreczko’s victory, the Rheinhesse lost its opener in London 1:3 against Joe Comito on Tuesday evening.
This makes him the second German to have to travel home after Lukas Wenig, who lost to Wesley Plaisier. With Pietreczko, Gabriel Clemens, Max Hopp and Arno Merk, four are in round two so far. On Wednesday evening, German number one Martin Schindler will face Stephen Burton from England. Dominik Grüllich will be the last German to play against Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena on Thursday.
With his defeat, Springer also missed the reward for a fantastic first season on the professional tour. The man from Siefersheim had an impressive debut year, winning a whopping 62 percent of his matches and even a tournament on the European Tour.
Many observers already had him on the list for one or two victories at the 2025 World Cup, but Springer was unlucky in the draw. In the first round – the top 32 were still seeded for round two at the time – he met perhaps the toughest opponent in the pot: Scott Williams. Springer held up well against the Englishman and lost somewhat unfortunately 1:3.
Jumpers with bad mistakes
This time it was “Waterboy” Comito, an Australian who, like Springer, lost his debut at the last World Cup. Springer, there were no two opinions, went into the game as the favorite, but struggled with problems from the start.
The German gave up the first round in the decider, and at least he won his throw-off set 3-1. Springer then turned to his followers on stage. His partner Laura was there, his father, friends and also Grülich kept their fingers crossed in the audience. Springer hunched his shoulders and spread his arms as if to say: It’s okay. Well, please.
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The performance shown up to that point was actually well below normal levels. An average of 85.12 and 36 percent on the doubles are nothing to scare an opponent with at the World Cup in 2026 – not even the 44-year-old Australian. So we had to improve.
Instead, he allowed his opponent 20 darts to break: 0:2. Just as he felt a slight upward trend shortly afterwards with a 140 and a 121 and pushed himself, his opponent effectively intervened: Comito checked 155 points out of nowhere to win the third set.
Chants of “Niko, Niko” echoed through the Ally Pally – the German fans realized that their player needed support. Shortly afterwards, Comito had the next highlight in his hand, narrowly missing 170 on the bullseye. But since Springer missed his 124 finish on double 11, the outsider checked for a break.
Springer was now on the verge of elimination, but with strong nerves he broke back on double 10 and saved himself in the decider. The chance to equalize the set was there, as was the pressure: the 25-year-old hit double 1 instead of double 20, then also missed double 19.
Since Comito missed his first two match darts, Springer had another chance, but was now completely out of control and failed in the conversion: he missed the single 6, hit the 13 instead and missed his last chance on the double 8.
Comito thanked him, scored and fell to his knees in joy: “I proved to myself that I could do it on this stage and perform at my best. I knew I could do it,” said the overjoyed Australian. Words that Springer was only too happy to say after his match.
If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also about offbeat things like football.
Darts World Cup 2026, results, 1st round
- Alan Soutar (SCO) – Teemu Harju (FIN) 3:2 nV (3:0, 3:0, 2:3, 2:3, 5:4)
- Nick Kenny (WAL) – Justin Hood (ENG) 0:3 (0:3, 2:3, 2:3)
- Scott Williams (ENG) – Paolo Nebrida (PHI) 3:0 (3:1, 3:0, 3:1)
- Chris Dobey (ENG/8) – Xiaochen Zong (CHN) 3:1 (3:0, 1:3, 3:1, 3:1)
- Ricardo Pietreczko (D) – Jose De Sousa (POR) 3:1 (3:2, 3:2, 2:3, 3:1)
- Danny Noppert (NED/6) – Jurjen van der Velde (NED) 3:1 (3:2, 1:3, 3:2, 3:0)
- Gerwyn Price (Wall/9) – Adam Gaulas (CZE) 3: 0 (3: 0, 3: 2, 3: 0)
- Niko Springer (D) – Joe Comito (AUS) 1:3 (2:3, 3:1, 0:3, 2:3)
