Emma Paton saw career dream dash before becoming face of darts | Other | Sport

Emma Paton saw her Olympic ambitions crushed by injury before becoming a television star. The Sky Sports presenter, who has been leading the network’s coverage of the World Darts Championship, was a talented athlete in her younger years, competing at national level in the 400m.

During her athletics career, Paton also secured a cameo role in Fast Girls, a 2012 film about a Team GB hopeful striving to achieve her dreams of becoming a world champion. She portrayed a Ukrainian relay runner and appeared in the trailer alongside stars like Lily James and Noel Clarke. Paton had aspirations of going further and reaching the grandest stage of all, the Olympic Games, only for injuries to stand in her way. That prompted her to concentrate on her media career, which has flourished ever since.

“I fell short of my dreams but that’s OK,” she said before the tournament. “I wanted to go to the Olympics to represent Great Britain. That was the aim but I had years of injuries and it didn’t really happen.

“Then I started working at Sky. I had a full-time job working on the breakfast show on Sky Sports News, which meant a lot of early starts.

“I managed to fit training around that for a long time. But with injuries, I turned my attention to trying to make it on screen at Sky and have ended up hosting darts. It could be a lot worse!”.

Darts and athletics differ in significant ways but share similarities in others, meaning Paton can, to some extent, relate to what the players are experiencing up on stage. She said: “Different in many ways but similar in the fact that it’s an individual sport. You’re just out there on your own, which wasn’t always nice, hence why I don’t do it anymore!

“But I’ve put myself on a start line, in that situation, although obviously not to the extent these players are playing at. That’s where it all started for me, my life was always rooted in sport.”

Following three weeks of darting drama, Paton will be presenting the World Championship final showdown between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen. Reigning champion Littler secured his spot with a commanding 6-1 triumph over Ryan Searle, while Van Veen, the Netherlands’ new number one, thrillingly overcame Gary Anderson in the other semi-final.

The final will be shown on the Sky Sports Main Events and Sky Sports Darts channels. Coverage commences at 7.30pm ahead of the 8.15pm start time.