Gian van Veen doesn’t use his real name at World Darts Championship | Other | Sport

World Darts Championship finalist Gian van Veen doesn’t actually go by his real name. The Dutchman will face Luke Littler in tonight’s final as he looks to dethrone the Nuke and become the second youngest world champion ever after the Englishman. The towering Dutchman has enjoyed a sublime 2025 and won his first PDC major at the European Championship in October.

Yet Van Veen, who stands at 6ft 4ins and is nicknamed The Giant, doesn’t use his birth name. Known as Gian in the world of darts, the back-to-back World Youth champion’s full name is actually Pieter Gerard van Veen. And he will look to cement himself as a household name by upsetting Littler tonight.

Van Veen has enjoyed a brilliant few weeks at Ally Pally so far this year, beating Cristo Reyes, Alan Soutar, Madars Razma, Charlie Manby and 2024 champion Luke Humphries before seeing off the challenge of his idol Gary Anderson in an epic semi-final last night.

The world No.10, who will rise seven places to third in the rankings after this tournament, won a thriller 6-3. He lost the first set but responded by averaging 113 to win the second and draw level. The gigantic 23-year-old then won each of the next three of a high-quality contest to move 4-1 up and the fifth set was one of the best ever seen in darts history.

Anderson won the first two legs with a 10-darter and a 170 Big Fish checkout. But Van Veen hit back with an 11-darter, a 12-dart Big Fish checkout of his own and a 15-darter to take the set. Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle called it “a set of darts from Gods.”

The Flying Scotsman responded by winning the next two sets to reduce the deficit to one, much to the delight of Ally Pally. But Van Veen wrapped up the next two to set up a showdown with Littler, who he has a 4-4 head-to-head record against.

Speaking after securing his spot in the final, Van Veen said: “Yeah of course. To win this kind of game… Gary threw everything at me. His finishing was great and his scoring was great. Today I felt comfortable up here. Of course the crowd was a bit against me but that’s fair play because Gary is such a fantastic human being and a fantastic darts player. I’m so happy.

“Winning this game, 10 years ago or five years ago, wherever I was struggling playing darts. I remember three or four years ago I was in Barnsley struggling with dartitis and crying at the table. Look at me four years later.

“It’s all been worth it. All the people who work so hard for me, even my parents when I was 12, 13, 14 years old and driving me everywhere in the Netherlands to all of the tournaments. It’s all been worth it because here we are. Unbelievable.

“As everyone knows, I’ve struggled with dartitis for many years. I had it four years ago just before I got my tour card. Even back then, when I wasn’t struggling, I never thought this was going to happen. To be in a World Championship final is not even a dream come true cause I wasn’t able to dream about this. Now it’s happened and I’m so, so happy.”

He added: “As a Dutchman, we all know my idol is Gary Anderson but as a Dutchman everyone’s idols are Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld. To be the third Dutchman to get into the final is fantastic. It will probably sink in over the next couple of days. For now I’m just going to enjoy this moment.”

Previewing the final, he added: “Everyone saw what Luke is capable of these past couple of years. He’s playing fantastic this tournament but so am I. I’m really looking forward to that game. Hopefully it’s going to be a great game. First of all I’ll enjoy this victory.”

Van Veen has surged to third in the PDC Order of Merit which means he stands to join the Premier League line-up this year. The top four on the Order of Merit are automatically selected and are joined by four players invited by the PDC. The tournament begins next month and lasts 16 weeks.

And Van Veen said earlier this week: “[I’m] very excited as long as I get the phone call or email. I’m not one hundred per cent sure. But very excited of course, playing against the other top seven players in the world week in, week out. It’s very exciting. I couldn’t even dream about it growing up so really looking forward to that.”