Time on MvG’s side in race to beat Taylor’s World C’Ship record
Published:Michael van Gerwen survived an almighty mid-match wobble to overcome the never-say-die Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright and claim his first Ladbrokes World Championship and the chrome-domed Dutch flinger is 6/4 to retain the title in 2015.
The Green Machine donned the Premier League crown for the first time in 2013 and added his first ever World Championship to the list in front of an ebullient Alexandra Palace crowd.
Now the sponsors make him favourite for next year’s north London shindig, with this year’s pre-tournament jolly Phil Taylor just behind him at 9/4.
Wright, whose valiant fightback from 4-0 down so nearly derailed the big-scoring Dutchman’s pursuit of victory, is a juicy 28/1 to go one better in 2015.
At the tender age of 24 the Vlijmen right-hander has the darting world at his feet and Ladbrokes go 50/1 about him equalling or surpassing Taylor’s 16 world titles.
Considering The Power took his first career title at the age of 28, MVG is already some way ahead of schedule.
The ever-increasing quality on show in the PDC may put paid to that however, with this year’s World Championships boasting more 180s than any before it.
As a result the layers deem it far less likely that Van Gerwen surpasses the Burslem-born darting demigod’s eight consecutive wins between 1995 and 2002, with odds of 100/1 quoted about nine consecutive titles.
Nonetheless the immediate future looks as bright as the Ally Pally lights did bouncing off his brilliant bonce and it’s just 10/1 that he completes the Premier League, Grand Slam and World Championship treble in 2014.
Van Gerwen went out to Adrian Lewis in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts in 2013, but reached the final in 2012.
It seems too that much is expected of the Dutchman’s vanquished opponent Wright, about whom Ladbrokes go just 2/1 to reach another world final and 5/1 to be world champion at some point in the future.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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