Gerwyn Price has withdrawn from the World Cup of Darts where he was due to represent Wales, ending his run in the event before it began. The former world champion later moved quickly to say on Instagram that he had not pulled out because of health reasons, even though he had said after a loss in Leeds that he was not in a great place health-wise.
Price’s exit means it is the second time in three years that he will not compete at the World Cup, a notable absence for a player who remains eighth in the PDC’s Order of Merit and sits third in the Premier League table. He was due to play at The O2 on May 28 if he makes the play-offs, but he has not yet mathematically secured a place there.
The Welshman has been trying to steady a season that has shown flashes of top-end form but also repeated signs of strain. In March, he lost 8-3 to Wessel Nijman in the European Darts Trophy final and said afterward that he needed a break from darts. Last week in Leeds, Jonny Clayton beat him 6-2, and Price again sounded drained as he tried to explain where he was mentally and physically.
“My focus is there, it’s just health-wise I am not in a great place at the moment,” Price said after that defeat. He added: “But I am battling on and searching for some results. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will come and they will put me at ease. Then I will be able to enjoy darts again. Frustrating times.”
That tension has followed Price beyond the oche. He runs a farm in Treharris and operates Chippy 501, the chip shop he bought in 2024 in his home town of Markham, after previously saying in December 2024 that managing the business was probably why he was losing and playing rubbish. “That’s probably why I was losing and playing rubbish - my mind was elsewhere,” he said then, laying out in plain terms how much his life away from darts had started to weigh on him.
There is still a route back into the Premier League play-offs, and Price has not written that off. “Time to rely on Lady Luck and see what happens over the next two weeks. Hopefully make the play-offs but I need a lot of luck to go my way. Hopefully see you at the O2. It’s not good playing once a week and hopefully I get the results I want in three weeks’ time,” he said, making clear that the next stretch will decide whether his season ends with a night at The O2 or another missed opportunity. For now, the World Cup of Darts 2026 will go ahead without one of Wales’s biggest names.
