Top darts teen turned 'pure boredom' into success

A university student who has topped a world rankings in darts has admitted he was not always good at the sport - and he only started throwing arrows regularly "through pure boredom".

Jenson Walker, 19, was named number one in the World Darts Federation (WDF) rankings last week.

That came after he received call-ups with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and beat darts champion Luke Littler three times.

The accountancy student, who is on Coventry University's sport scholarship scheme, said, despite his skill with the arrows, he "wasn't a natural" when he first started playing.

The teenager, who first began playing in youth tournaments after the Covid pandemic, qualified for the WDF World Championships 2025, where he reached the semi-finals.

"At Christmas we would always watch the world championships on TV and we'd get the dartboard out of the loft and have a play," Walker said.

"One year it stayed up after Christmas and then the Covid pandemic hit so, through pure boredom, I started chucking and it spiralled from there.

"About a year on I started to realise I was decent at darts and when we came out of the first wave of lockdowns I entered a youth tournament.

"I was a steady player and as I hadn't played the game properly before I didn't feel any pressure."

His competition wins include victory in the recent Romanian Open Classic and reaching the semi-finals of the WDF World Championships.

In his career so far, Walker, from Exhall, just outside Coventry, has also beaten the current PDC world champion Luke Littler, who has lifted back-to-back World Championship titles in his teens.

He said: "Luke and I started at a very similar time. We've competed for the England team together and have had numerous battles – he's winning 5-3 currently and I'll take that at the moment!"

Alongside his desire to go as far as possible in the sport, Walker said he was still prioritising his degree.

"It felt the right time to start my studies alongside my darts," he said.

"The finances that were up for grabs last year in the sport meant I couldn't risk not putting all my effort into that, so I delayed starting in September and began in January.

"I'm ready for this now and it feels right."

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