Michael van Gerwen left in shock after fan stole World Darts Championship trophy in middle of final
Michael van Gerwen has reached yet another World Darts Championship final but he will be hoping to avoid a repeat of an incident which happened in 2017.
After trouncing Chris Dobey 6-1, Van Gerwen will play against 17-year-old sensation Luke Littler in what will be his seventh final and is vying to win the Sid Waddell Trophy and take home a mammoth prize pot for the fourth time in his career.
The Dutchman lost his first final to Phil Taylor in 2013 before beating Peter Wright to claim the crown a year later. Van Gerwen also went all the way in 2017 and 2019 before finishing second in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
His 7-3 victory over Gary Anderson at Alexandra Palace for his second world title in 2017 saw him claim all seven major PDC ranking titles at the same time.
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But the final featured one of the most bizarre moments in darts as a fan stormed the stage and stole the trophy.
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'Mighty Mike' was 6-2 up in sets against Gary Anderson and closing in on a second world championship triumph, requiring just 115 to seal the win.
But then shockingly, just before Van Gerwen lined up to throw, a fan wearing foam fingers appeared on the stage and got hold of the trophy - lifting it above his head before security got involved and removed him from the building.
Sky Sports quickly cut away on their live feed but the shock on Van Gerwen's face was still there.
The game went on a bit longer as Anderson won the next set to make it 6-3, before Van Gerwen regained his composure to get the job done.
"That was a bit sad to be fair," Van Gerwen said at the time.
"I think during the game I was in full concentration and it was a bad moment for me.
"You've always got people like that trying to be funny.
"Maybe he wanted to give me the trophy. That's very nice of him but he's not allowed to do that!"
Internet prank group Trollstation were responsible for the stunt, with 'Disco Boy' Lee Marshall the offender. Taking to social media, the group wrote: "Disco Boy won the darts final, well done Disco Boy."
Van Gerwen sends Littler warning
Speaking after his win over Dobey, the 35-year-old sent a warning to Littler as he looks to finally go one better in his second final.
"Luke's had a sniff [of the title]. I'm going to make sure he keeps by a sniff as well," Van Gerwen said.
"He's got years! I think with his capability I will be surprised if he doesn't beat it. But I don't look at stats. People say 'are you going to beat Phil Taylor's stats'. I don't care. It's about what you do now and whoever is in your path, you face it."
Topics: Darts
Josh Lawless