Peter Wright won three straight sets to recover from 5-4 down and beat Michael Smith in a sensational final of the PDC World Darts Championship.
Peter Wright won the PDC World Darts Championship. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Scot, winner in 2020, is only the sixth player to win the title twice.
Playing in his third final, Wright raced into a 2-0 lead before ninth seed Smith recovered to hold the advantage at 5-4.
But, with the partisan crowd at the Alexandra Palace in London firmly behind Smith, Wright hit back to inflict a second final defeat on his English opponent.
The 51-year-old wins nearly $1 million in prize money after adding to his maiden title in 2020.
The win now means Wright is only $30,000 behind the world number one Gerwyn Price in the world darts ranking system.
With Wright, 51, two sets up early on thanks to 148 and 124 checkouts, Smith won the third with a superb 167 finish in the third leg to break Wright's throw.
Then came a critical moment when Wright missed two darts at the double that would have put him 3-1 up at the first break. Smith took advantage of Wright's misses to nail double 10 and level the match at 2-2.
World matchplay champion Wright came back from the break with a new set of darts and held his throw to go 3-2 up, despite Smith throwing his 72nd 180 of the tournament to break Gary Anderson's previous record of 71.
Smith then won two straight sets to lead the match for the first time, at 4-3 before another crucial moment with the Englishman leading 5-4.
In the 10th set, Wright was two legs down before winning three in a row to level the match again.
That gave the Scot the momentum and he reeled off another three legs without a response to win the 11th set then won two more to move within one leg of victory.
Smith stopped the rout winning the third leg in the 12th set but it was not enough and Wright hit double 12 to win the match and become a two-time world champion.
-BBC
