10 Key Moments in The Iceman's Journey to becoming PDC World Champion
It’s been a phenomenal rise to the very top for Gerwyn “The Iceman” Price - from earning a Tour Card at Q-school in 2014, to winning the 2020/21 PDC World Darts Championship and the mantle of World no.1, just 7 years later.
We take a look back at the key moments in Gezzy’s career, in what has been a consistent rise and year-on-year development, a fitting tribute to the Iceman’s hard work and dedication as a professional darts player.
Jan 2014 - Gerwyn Price Gains his Tour Card
After persuasion from close friend Barrie Bates, Gerwyn entered the 2014 edition of Q-school and picked up his Tour Card by winning through on Day 2 of the event.
Tungsten Tales’ Paul Starr interviewed Gezzy straight after earning his card in Wigan.
Jul 2015 - First Televised Wins
After defeat at the 2015 World Championships to Peter Wright, it took the Welshman just a year to pick up his first televised wins. After some fanstatic performances on the ProTour, Price qualified for the 2015 World Matchplay and defeated Michael Smith and Adrian Lewis at the Winter Gardens.
May 2016 – Wins First PDC Ranking Titles
Price completes the feat of winning back-to-back Players Championship titles at PC7 & 8 in 2016 – defeating Peter Wright and Jamie Caven respectively. By this point Gerwyn had really began to show that he had the ability to mix it with the best and moved into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time.
Feb 2017 – First PDC Televised Final at UK Open
On just the fourth attempt, Price went on a dazzling run defeating Paul Hogan, Ian White and Alan Norris on the way to the final of the UK Open.
The Iceman came up against an in-form Peter Wright and fell to an 11-6 defeat, but picked up a huge £35,000 runner-up cheque to give him a massive boost on the Order of Merit and move into the top 16.
Feb 2018 – Makes Premier League Debut
Thanks to his run at the UK Open and reaching the semi-finals at the World Cup of Darts with Mark Webster – Price was selected as a Wildcard for the 2018 Premier League, earning a draw on his opening match in Dublin against Peter Wright.
Sep 2018 - Wins first European Tour Title
Price earned his first title at a European Tour event just 2 months after having an operation to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon, winning the PDC International Darts Open. Price continued to climb the rankings thanks to quarter-final runs in televised majors of UK Open, World Grand Prix and European Championship.
Nov 2018 – Becomes the First Ever Welsh winner of a PDC Major
Gerwyn Price makes history in the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, defeating Gary Anderson 16-13 in the final, to lift his first Major title and become the first ever Welshman to complete the feat and move into the top 8 of the PDC Order of Merit.
Nov 2019 – Defends the Grand Slam of Darts
Gezzy makes it back-to-back Grand Slam of Darts titles in 2019 defeating Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright along the way, also picking up 3x Pro Tour titles during the year and coming runner-up in the Players Championship Finals. These titles continued Price's progress in the rankings as he reaches World number 3, after a semi-final appearance at the 2020 World Darts Championship.
Nov 2020 – Wales Become World Cup Champions
In a year that was heavily disrupted by Covid-19, Gerwyn picked up another 3 Player Championship titles and teamed up with Jonny Clayton at the PDC World Cup of Darts.
Clayton and Price proved to be a fearsome combination and were rampant on their way to the title, defeating England 3-0 in the final to lift the World Cup for Wales. More major success also followed for Price in 2020 as he won the World Series of Darts Finals and World Grand Prix.
Jan 2021 – Crowned the first ever Welsh PDC World Champion and World no.1
Going into the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship as third seed – Price showed the battle and determination of a champion coming through two games that went down to sudden death legs.
Gezzy set up another TV major final with Gary Anderson, once again the Iceman came out on top hitting the best set average in PDC major history – 136.64. Price defeated the Scotsman 7-3 to win first PDC World Championship and replaced Michael van Gerwen as World number one, the first person to reach the peak in 7 years.