Wednesday December 22, 2021
In four years from the flat share to the World Cup
The crazy darts fairy tale by Florian Hempel
From Kevin Schulte
Florian Hempel only started darts four years ago in a shared apartment in Cologne. At the beginning of this year he succeeded in qualifying for the professional tour. Now the 31-year-old is in the third round of the world championship, after a sensational success against a top player.
In the end, it seems as if Florian Hempel’s darts can no longer miss their target, the eight millimeter narrow double field. The 31-year-old from Cologne uses his first chance to win the match against the fifth in the world rankings Dimitri Van den Bergh. Hempel is sensationally in the third round of his world championship debut and is causing new darts euphoria in Germany with his famous performance against the top Belgian player. “I beat one of the best players in the world. This is my first year, now I’m in the third round, that’s crazy,” said Hempel in the winner’s interview with “Sky Sports”.
Right at the beginning of the game, Hempel shows that he can be expected. World Cup co-favorite Van den Bergh snapped the first sentence in Hempel’s decision leg. With anger in his stomach, the Belgian shows a reaction that has it all. In the second sentence, Hempel has no chance whatsoever. But then the German stabilized again and presented himself as strong as a bear, especially when thrown on the double fields.
Van den Bergh shows his strength with a few high scores, but repeatedly fails when throwing the doubles. So it is Hempel who after the transformed match dart on the double eight can hardly realize what he has succeeded in. He looks slightly incredulous, first at the hall floor, then at his opponent, then at his girlfriend in the spectator area and then towards the ceiling.
Hempel’s chances are good
At the end of the seventh day of the Darts World Cup in London’s Alexandra Palace, Hempel will certainly have taken a look at the tournament tree. It now even offers him a realistic chance of making it to the quarter-finals. Never before has a German reached the round of the last eight at the Darts World Cup.
First of all, Hempel, who has to spend Christmas in London due to the corona entry regulations, will make it to the round of 16 against Raymond Smith on the afternoon of December 27th. The 42-year-old Australian is next to Hempel the second big surprise of the tournament so far. But on paper it could have hit the German harder. Especially since there would be no unsolvable task waiting even in the event of advancement: Mervyn King, world number 21, or Steve Lennon, world number 52, would be the possible opponents in the round of 16.
From handball to Cologne flat shares to darts
No matter how far it goes for Hempel in “Ally Pally”, his story from a hobby player to a World Cup sensation already reads like a sports fairy tale. Hempel, born in Dessau in 1990, is late-calling. He initially earned his sporting merits as a handball goalkeeper. In his early 20s he played a game in goal for the second division team Dessau-Roßlauer HV, and then played in the third division for the club from Saxony-Anhalt. In 2014 he moved to Cologne and played in the handball league in North Rhine-Westphalia until 2016. Then his first sports career ends and Hempel finds a new sporting home.
Florian Hempel’s path to the third round of the Darts World Cup begins in a shared apartment in Cologne. In 2017 he lived with two friends in the cathedral city. “We had a cheap dartboard hanging in the shared apartment. And every third Saturday before the party we threw a few darts with a few cold drinks,” said Hempel shortly after qualifying for the professional tour at the beginning of the year “Checkout” podcast told.
“I only knew darts from television”
When he has a week’s vacation, Hempel’s ambition takes hold and he begins to train longer. “I then just stood up and threw a few darts. And I’m just an ambitious little boy who can’t stop if I haven’t achieved what he had in mind.”
After a few days, Hempel bought his own dartboard and his first own arrows on the Internet. “Darts that I liked visually.” But when the cheap darts broke a little later, Hempel went to a Cologne dart shop for advice and reports from the local darts scene. “I didn’t even know that so many people played darts. I only knew darts from television, Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen. That was what connected me to darts back then.”
At the end of his visit, the dart shop operator invites Hempel to a Cologne darts tournament. “I just went there. An entry fee of five euros. I actually won the tournament, although there were some top guys there. That was a lot of fun. And for the next six months I trained about twice a week,” he said 31 year old.
“Not many were so good that fast”
The training bears fruit. Hempel takes part in a local series of tournaments in Cologne, the winner of which is paid a starting place for a qualification tournament for a smaller professional event of the professional darts organization PDC in Leverkusen. “That was 125 pounds back then. And I actually won the tournament series. In the qualifying event, I at least made it to the second or third round.”
Hempel has talent, is hooked and takes part in several tournaments a week – in Germany, but also in the Netherlands. He also hires a mental trainer. “Darts is a matter of the mind, 80 percent”, Hempel is convinced. But he is also convinced that he will benefit from his time as a handball goalkeeper. “My hand-eye coordination, which was already very pronounced at the time, helped me a lot. And through my sporting past, I knew that I had to invest a lot for a sporting goal. I was incredibly ambitious and hardworking, up to and including eight hours a day on the board. “
The Cologne resident continues to improve and dares to take a bold step in 2018. “I decided to go all out for a year, to train four times a week. With the aim of becoming a real professional. I was told that not many people were that good that quickly,” recalls Hempel, who was still self-employed at the time Fitness trainer and nutritionist works. “I gradually pushed that aside and instead built up several pillars in darts. Together with a friend I run a YouTube channel about darts, organize my own tournaments in Cologne and give one or the other workshop.”
“Put everything on one card”
Florian Hempel has been all about darts since mid-2018, when he “put everything on one card”. The clear focus on his hobby helps him to further improve his game. In 2019 he will qualify for two PDC tournaments for the first time, and due to the corona, he will use 2020 primarily for training and participation in online tournaments. Hempel has been known to all darts fans since 2021 at the latest when he earned the so-called tour card at the PDC Qualifying School. Only 128 players are authorized to take part on the PDC professional tour. Florian Hempel is now one of them.
But that’s not all: Hempel qualifies for the World Cup in the first year. In the meantime, the Cologne native has already collected around 57,000 euros in prize money on the PDC tour. It is the reward of hard work and a brave decision to put your all on darts. And maybe there will be a few thousand euros in prize money at the World Cup.