Luke Humphries refuses to write off misfiring darts star for World Championships and fears ‘it could happen to me’

LUKE HUMPHRIES reckons it is unwise to write off Gerwyn Price heading into Ally Pally, saying: Once his confidence returns, he will be firing again.

Price – who has slumped to 10th in the world rankings – did not qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts, which was sensationally won by Luke Littler last weekend in Wolverhampton.

It has been a difficult year for the Welsh thrower, 39, who can show the doubters his two World Series successes this summer in Denmark and Australia.

But he underperformed at the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and European Championship and also came seventh in the Premier League standings.

It means Price’s Prem spot for 2025 is in the balance given the number of other major winners in the mix.

Some feel he might walk away from the oche and focus more on outside businesses and properties, which includes owning a chip shop in his local village.

Two-time world champion Dennis Priestley, 74, had suggested Price – who lifted the world crown in 2021 – might decide to call it quits next year.

The Iceman has rubbished those claims and returns to the TV screens on Friday evening when he faces Frenchman Thibault Tricole in round one of the Players Championship Finals at Butlin’s Minehead.

Humphries, the world No.1 and defending world champion, said: “It’s not been the year for him this year.

“Maybe his heart has not been in as much as it was the years before that.

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“I don’t think he will retire. I think he is maybe going through a lull – which could happen to all of us.

“It could happen to me one year. It can happen.

“He has got to fight back. It’s a setback for him at the moment. But you can see the class he has shown over the last five years.

“He got the game in him. He’s just low on confidence. I think when he gets his confidence back, it’s when he will be firing again.

“Maybe he just needs a good experience to win a tournament or to make the world final. Something like that. To spark him back into the year.

“Maybe an extra couple of weeks off might benefit him. He might go to the Players Championship or the Worlds and change everything around.

“Never write him off. I don’t think he will be retiring any time soon.”

Humphries was speaking in Tamworth where he launched ‘Darts on Your Doorstep’, a new initiative in association with Smart Energy GB to bring high level darts equipment to lower income areas.

About 250 venues across the country will be fitted out with dartboards, lights and oches.

+ To register your dart club or group for the scheme visit www.pdc.tv/PDCInTheCommunity

List of all-time Darts World Champions

BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.

The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.

That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.

1994 – Dennis Priestley 1995 – Phil Taylor 1996 – Phil Taylor (2) 1997 – Phil Taylor (3) 1998 – Phil Taylor (4) 1999 – Phil Taylor (5) 2000 – Phil Taylor (6) 2001 – Phil Taylor (7) 2002 – Phil Taylor (8) 2003 – John Part 2004 – Phil Taylor (9) 2005 – Phil Taylor (10) 2006 – Phil Taylor (11) 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld 2008 – John Part (2) 2009 – Phil Taylor (12) 2010 – Phil Taylor (13) 2011 – Adrian Lewis 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 – Phil Taylor (14) 2014 – Michael van Gerwen 2015 – Gary Anderson 2016 – Gary Anderson (2) 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 – Rob Cross 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 – Peter Wright 2021 – Gerwyn Price 2022 – Peter Wright (2) 2023 – Michael Smith 2024 – Luke Humphries

Most World Titles

14 – Phil Taylor 3 – Michael van Gerwen 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries