Two-time World Champion Peter Wright has just sent out a little reminder to the rest of the darting world: he ain’t done just yet.
The leaner version of Snakebite has his eyes on the only thing dangling down from the Ally Pally ceiling – that first-ever £1 million tungsten payday.
He also quite fancies becoming the first Scot to win three World Championships, because why not?
Lately, though, Snakebite has looked more lost puppy than venomous reptile. His ranking has slipped toward the brink of the top 16, and his form has wobbled like a cheap pub table. So, in true Wright fashion, he’s decided to reinvent himself – this time through weight loss rather than another new set of darts.
Fans noticed his much slimmer frame at the Czech Darts Open, where he managed to turn a 5-3 lead into a second-round defeat against Stephen Bunting. Progress? Of sorts.
On the Darts Show Podcast, Wright explained he feels a hundred times better after shedding four stone in a matter of months, drawing inspiration from Luke Humphries and Ross Smith:
“To be honest, not eating – just eating once a day. Exercise, walking. Well, I’ve been lucky enough not to be picked for all these World Series things and the Premier League. I think it’s given me time to actually just do stuff around the place instead of running from one tournament to the next, being on planes and travelling everywhere.”
Wright is probably in a minority there, describing missing the Premier League as a stroke of good fortune:
“I feel really fit. I feel more focused, and I can’t wait for the way I feel to come out in my darts. You know, disaster last week – I felt fantastic, but it just didn’t go at all. Just one of them things. I can only improve or get worse than that. If I got worse, then yeah, maybe we’d call it a day.”
The man has spent the past year not only testing his metabolism but also every set of darts ever forged. Unsurprisingly, that’s produced mixed results.
“Yes, definitely. Especially at Milton Keynes. Oh my God – it was like the dart would just get to a certain distance and then drop, or just kick to the right and not quite reach my target. So that’s something I’ve been experimenting with.”
Naturally, experimenting in Wright-speak means trying whatever everyone else is doing, then binning it:
“I’ve been experimenting with longer points, because that’s what everyone’s doing at the moment. But they just haven’t suited me. So for this tournament, I’ve gone back to darts that look like Michael van Gerwen’s, but they’re actually my Elements from years ago, with the points I used to use – and a lighter dart, which doesn’t drop.”
And then there’s the practicing. Or lack of it:
“It’s been great just to do stuff at home and not think about darts. To be honest, I haven’t practiced hardly at all. I just… I don’t want to practice. I don’t need to, because I know the game’s there. Well, it’s not – but it is, you know? Yeah, it’s been brilliant not to be part of it.”
Only Peter Wright could casually say the game is both there and not there, Schrödinger’s dartboard-style. Still, he insists he doesn’t need endless hours on the practice board:
“Playing the best players in the world does help, but it doesn’t help with old age and travelling. It’s tiring being at the top for so long.”
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t yearn for it – a bit: “In a way, yeah, I miss all the fans and going around the world, representing the PDC. But at the same time, I haven’t missed it.”
Classic Wright logic: simultaneously missing it and not missing it. Looking ahead, Wright hinted at copying Gary Anderson’s selective schedule. He pointed to past wins to prove the game’s still in there somewhere:
“The game is there. Look at my match against Humphries at the Worlds last year, the European Championship I won, the Euro Tour where I beat Littler in Hildesheim. Those individual games are still there. But it’s the week after week, over and over – that’s the tricky thing.”
Can he win another major? He certainly thinks so:“
“Definitely. Oh yeah, I want to be the first one to win a million and be a three-time Scottish World Champion. Even weekends like last weekend where things didn’t go right – there have been a fair few of those – I still felt great. What’s the matter? It just didn’t happen. But there’s no doubt. Even when I was playing last week, I played one and a half decent legs and thought, ‘Here it comes.’ I know I can reel off five legs on the trot against the best players in the world.”
So Snakebite returns to action at the World Series of Darts Finals against fellow Scot Cameron Menzies. Whether we get vintage Wright or the man still searching for the right set of darts remains to be seen.
But one thing’s for certain: he’s definitely not giving up just yet – or not until we have seen his full wardrobe collection and his wife Joanne’s complete hair design repertoire. Could be a while yet.
—–ENDS—-
Images: PDC
