‘It can be brutal’: Gian van Veen learns to fly with the stars after dartitis

‘You learn what a mentally tough sport it is. If you keep losing, you doubt everything,’ says Gian van Veen. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

It’s the deciding leg of the European Championship final. Gian van Veen, the 23-year-old from the Netherlands chasing his first major title, has just missed two match darts to win 11-9. Luke Humphries, world No 1 at the time, starts the final leg with a 140.

“Oh, you’ve blown it here,” Van Veen replies when asked to describe his internal monologue during that moment in October. “Luke Humphries is not going to crumble under this pressure. Maybe it was a negative thought. But it also released some pressure for me, in a way.”