Darts star looks completely unrecognisable in throwback pictures, it's such a big contrast

Michael Van Gerwen is one of the greatest darts players of all time and among the most recognisable too.

The 34-year-old Dutchman has won the PDC World Championship on three occasions and has previously been the sport's No.1 in the world, currently holding the second placed spot.

He has been on the PDC circuit since 2007 and his title victories have come in 2014 when he beat Peter Wright, overcoming Gary Anderson in 2017, and, most recently in 2019, when he defeated Adrian Lewis.

Van Gerwen indeed made history when he won his first crown in 2014 by becoming, at the age of 24, the youngest champion ever and it is a record he still holds to this day.

For many darts fans, one of the most recognisable features of the now 34-year-old is his baldness, which has been the case for much of his career.

But that has not always been so, as images from earlier on in his professional darts career show him with a full head of hair and he looks like a completely different person.

The images come from the 2008 PDC World Championship, just a few years into van Gerwen's career and are now more than 15 years old.

Speaking in 2014 to the Guardian, van Gerwen revealed the age where he began going bald, and joked it was from the stress after competing with darts legend Phil 'The Power' Taylor, whom he lost to in 2008.

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At the time, he said: "I see Phil more than my wife. What can you do? We had 150 days of darts this year. And all the travelling and exhibitions mean I’m away 250 to 260 nights a year. You can see why I’m bald now. It’s the stress.

“No, I’m joking. I was about 20 when I started going bald. At the beginning everyone thought I was sick. I said, ‘No, I’m only sick when I lose.’ And it’s toughest when you lose in the worlds.

“I remember that first time against Phil in 2008. I had a chance to beat him but before you can know how to win the worlds you have to learn how to lose it.”

Van Gerwen was runner-up in the 2023 PDC World Championship to eventual winner Michael Smith but is bidding to win the 2024 edition having progressed to the third round already.