Jake Shipley and Macy Gibbons left Bridlington Spa as British Open champions, Shipley with his first WDF Youth title and Gibbons with her eighth girls title of the year.
Youth Classification Darts
Shipley beat Scotland’s Owen Bryceland 5-3 in the Youth final, and he did it against the form player of the weekend. “The Bandit” had reached the final in style, thrashing Ben Townley 4-1 in the semi-finals with a 96.44 average, the highest of the last four and eight stages.
Shipley’s route had been far more understated. A 3-2 win over Daniel Stephensen in the last eight dispute being out-averaged set up a 4-1 semi-final victory over Benjamin Smith.
The final had looked to be playing out to a convincing win as Shipley took a 4-1 lead, but quickly, Bryceland fought back to win two legs on the spin. Though this did not phase the eventual champion who saw out the win on double nine.
Girls Classification Darts
Gibbons had been the class of the Girls field all weekend. The Coventry player whitewashed Olviia Heaton 3-0 in the quarter-finals with an 80.52 average, almost 14 points clear of any other winner in the round.
She then beat Lily Blanthorn 4-0 in the semi-finals, reaching the final without dropping a knockout-stage leg.
Against former WDF Girls World Champion Paige Pauling, she dropped two, closing out a 5-2 win with a 77.75 average. The win was a revenge of sorts. Twelve months earlier, Pauling had beat Gibbons by the same scoreline in the Womens’ final at the British Open.
The win is Gibbons eighth title of 2026 and further strengthens her bid for a WDF Girls World Championship debut.
Images: Target Darts
