Former world champion, 38, TREBLES earnings with first nine-darter of PDC World Championships to land lucky fan £60k
CHRISTIAN KIST has hit the first nine-darter at the PDC World Championship.
The Dutch star – a former BDO world champ – hit the brilliant effort in his round one clash against Madars Ramza.
Kist, 38, was thrilled with the moment as he could be seen celebrating at the oche.
He will pocket a tidy £60,000 from throwing the nine-darter.
This cash bonus will treble his yearly earnings as to date he had only won £27,250, according to dartsrankings.com.
It became the first nine-darter to trigger Paddy Power’s £180,000 bonus – split evenly between the player, Prostate Cancer UK and a lucky fan in the crowd.
Kist, 38, delivered the traditional route of perfection of 180, 180 and then 60, 57 and double 12 to send the crowd wild.
Elated Chris, 28, from Sutton was picked out as a face in the crowd on the big screen and that’s when he realised he’d won the jackpot.
The railway guard said: “My grandparents Stuart and Pauline bought me the tickets for the darts for my birthday last Saturday. My grandad is with me tonight.
“It was just a normal day. I came here after work. I knew about this nine-darter initiative. But I wasn’t 100 per cent sure how it worked.
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“I didn’t know if you had to sign but obviously when I got here that’s when I found out you did to be entered into it.
“But you don’t expect to win it, do you? When I saw my face on the screen I turned round to my grandad and said ‘seriously, oh my god this is mental’.
“I kept going ‘this can’t be real’. Everyone around me was cheering.
“When the nine-darter went in both me and my grandad looked at each other and said what next and when’s it getting announced.
“In the ad break they were saying ‘someone has won 60 grand’.
“I’m back in work tomorrow but I don’t know what time yet.
“I’m a guard’s manager and I work for south western railway, a bit like a conductor.
“I’ve just told my girlfriend and she’s blowing my phone up. We moved into a flat together this year. Either we’ll pay off some of the mortgage. But we’ll definitely have a great Christmas.
“This will take a while to sink in, that’s for sure.”
Fans hailed the moment from Kist as they reacted on social media.
Kist has won £19,750 in prize money over the past two years. By throwing a nine-darter he banked the £60k bonus in a matter of seconds.
He said: “The nine darter was nice, but I lost the game. I am a little bit disappointed. But the nine-darter is great, of course. Maybe I’ll be on vacation very soon.
“I’ve hit a nine about two or three times in practice and I think it’s my fourth time on the PDC Tour.
“It was a great feeling. Fans first two darts, cheering. Feeling great, but I am disappointed I lost the first game.”
On now having a huge Kist fan who won the £60,000, he added: “Lovely. I hope he enjoyed it, and the money.”
Kist has something of a rollercoaster time at the Ally Pally. Losing to Littler a year ago, hitting a nine-darter and then getting eliminated.
He said: “I won I think one time in the first round, but the last few times I am not lucky in the first round. Last year, Luke Littler. Also Michael van Gerwen. Not lucky. This year I was hoping I would win the first game.”
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READ MORE on all the build-up to the Ally Pally extravaganza...
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- All the action as it happens in our LIVE BLOG
- Everything you need to know about the Ally Pally extravaganza
- How much prize money can be won?
- What is the format for the tournament?
- Are tickets still available and how much do they cost?
- When is Littler playing?
- Why isn’t Russ Bray refereeing?
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- Littler reveals tournament game plan
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Kist came into the tournament as a massive outsider but is a former world champion.
He shocked the darts world in 2012 when, as a rookie, he beat Tony O’Shea to become the BDO Champion.
As a result, he won £100,000 in prize money.
However, when he joined the PDC Tour, he struggled to replicate his form.
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