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One of the first week’s biggest shocks in Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally, as it is popularly called) in London was probably the 51-year-old Swede Andreas Harrysson’s victory against the world number 12, Briton Ross Smith.
Just getting through to the second round of the World Darts Championship is a minor feat and Didden (as Harrysson is known in the inner circles) is now on fire again on Saturday night. In the second round he meets the Japanese Motomu Sakai. That task actually does not look completely impossible for the Swede with the enormous gray beard.
It is Viaplay that distributes Sky Sports’ broadcast of this entire marathon World Cup, the final of which will not be played until January 3rd next year – with a short Christmas break between December 24th and 26th. The largest number of players ever, 128, are vying for the title, which brings a cool £1 million to the winner.
It’s great television entertainment every day and every shift, it’s one-of-a-kind crowd-party-party, and pretty much guaranteed a couple of super-dramatic matches per broadcast.
And although the favorite is the biggest shining star in the darts sky (ever…?), 18-year-old Luke Littler, there are still many in the bid, perhaps more than ever, this year.
The mental game is here at least as important as the dart throwing itself – if you are still allowed to express yourself so blasphemously about the great sport of darts
Luke Humphries recently lost first place in the world ranking to young Luke “The Nuke”, and he is said to be very keen to challenge both the new world number one and the reigning world champion.
In almost every broadcast the experts also warn of various outsiders, and then not only for the usual British contenders, but now they also mention, for example, the German Martin Schindler and the Dutchman Danny Noppert, the latter currently looking ice cold and razor sharp.
As I said, many have the capacity for the game itself – but do they, as they say, “have what it takes”? This is true in most sports, but especially so in a nervous sport such as darts. The mental game is here at least as important as the dart throwing itself – if you are still allowed to express yourself so blasphemously about the great sport of darts.
There is also a large Swedish television audience that has not yet found its way into the world of darts, now during the WC they have a brilliant chance. Take it!
Viaplay is of course betting big on their winter broadcasts that they stole from SVT (apart from the biathlon), and even if it can sometimes be a bit too boyish and silly, their panel talk, “Ur spår”, almost always gives a little extra inside. With Jonas Karlsson and Johan Olsson, of course, flanked by, among others, knowledgeable reporter Ludvig Svan and former elite skier Teodor Peterson.
And that, as I said, is only the beginning. Do we have any enthusiasm left to give and feel once the Olympics start? Doubtful
Viaplay has invested heavily in this type of podcast TV, they do similar panel programs about both football and ice hockey, with slightly different results and quality – it looks at least like they tried to match their colleague “Fotbollsmorgon”, in terms of style, tone and content, but without even reaching Fotbollsmorgon’s unusually high everyday level.
But still give the skis “Ur spår” a chance, they often seem to know things that happen around cross-country skiing long before anyone else.
The upload before the Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina, February 6-22, everything is getting hotter and more intense. Both SVT and TV4 will show their muscles both before and during – but TV4 in particular seems to have gone all in on their first ever Winter Olympics. It may feel a bit excessive when, as a viewer, already in the middle, end of December, you feel that they seem a bit over-taught.
Well, at the beginning of January, TV4 will start broadcasting another five-part documentary “Den sista procenten” where several of the Swedish Olympic hopefuls will tell about how years of blood, sweat and tears must be channeled and concentrated on a single race, a single ride.
And that, as I said, is only the beginning. Do we have any enthusiasm left to give and feel once the Olympics start? Doubtful.
Read more texts by Johan Croneman
