The reigning WDF Women’s Champion, Deta Hedman MBE is becoming quite the trophy hoover of late. If she’s in it, generally, she is winning it.
Wherever the board is mounted, wherever the lights are switched on, she seems to arrive with the same quiet certainty – and leave carrying silverware. Bucharest is merely the latest pin on a rapidly filling map, another city folded into a stretch of dominance that refuses to acknowledge time, distance, or expectation.
Only weeks removed from lifting the ultimate prize at Frimley Green – the World Crown itself – the Heart of Darts has barely paused for breath. Sixty-six years young and playing with the authority of someone who knows exactly when to press and when to suffocate, Hedman followed that career-defining triumph by crossing the Atlantic and returning with a trophy from the United States. Romania, it turns out, was next on the itinerary.
In Bucharest, the pattern held. Calm early. Control established. Then acceleration. In the final of the RIDO Ladies Singles, Hedman dismantled Finland’s Kirsi Viinikainen 5–1, a scoreline that barely captured the imbalance of the contest. There was no drama required, no flourish demanded – just repeatable excellence, applied with ruthless efficiency.
It almost became a double celebration. Competing in the RCDO event, Hedman again carved her way through the field, threatening to turn another tournament into personal property. This time, resistance held firm in the shape of Germany’s Irina Armstrong, a player well-versed in winning herself. Armstrong prevailed 5–2, denying Hedman a clean sweep but doing little to dim the glow of an extraordinary weekend.
A special nod here for Darts World ambassador Natalie Gilbert. The Tamworth thrower (pictured above), attended the festival despite difficult personal circumstances and, pulled off her best WDF result for a while with a superb run to the semi final of the RCDO. Indeed she could be classed as unlucky not to have overcome Hedman in the last four encounter and finally being edged out in a decider. It bodes well for Natalie’s WDF efforts in 2026!
Elsewhere, the narrative tilted toward the future. Jenson Walker continues to announce himself with increasing volume, the Coventry prodigy delivering a commanding performance in the RCDO Open final. Dutchman Moreno Blom had no answers as Walker surged to victory, another emphatic tick against the name of a player rapidly outgrowing the label of prospect.
Youth also ruled the RIDO Open, where teenager Cayden Smith produced a composed display to defeat Serbia’s Mladen Radosavljevic 5–2 in the final. It was a performance rich in assurance, suggesting that the next generation is not waiting politely for opportunities – it is taking them.
The BIDO tournament round-up completed a weekend thick with storylines. Northern Ireland hotshot, Neil Duff added yet another WDF title to an already weighty résumé, overcoming Harry Lane 5–2 with the kind of authority that has become his trademark. In the women’s event, Paula Jacklin carried the trophy back to England after seeing off Turkey’s Emine Dursun, underlining the depth of quality currently flowing through the women’s game.
From legends still writing chapters to teenagers opening their first pages, Bucharest offered a vivid snapshot of darts in motion. But at the centre of it all stands Deta Hedman – relentless, refined, and seemingly immune to the passage of time.
Right now, the Heart of Darts doesn’t just beat. It dictates the rhythm.
—–ENDS—–
Images: WDF
