Darts: Unpacking 20 year old Katie Sheldon’s Women’s Gold Cup victory

Katie Sheldon’s Women’s Gold Cup performance saw her triumphant at the competition yesterday, with the 20 year old seeing off Robyn Byrne in the final to collect the win.

35 participants lined up at the start for the round robin stage, and across 57 matches and 10,681 darts thrown, 16 emerged from the pack for the knockout rounds.

There, Sheldon and Byrne saw off competition from the likes of last year’s winner Caroline Breen, as well as Kate Roddy, Denise Cassidy, Rosie Brady and co to set up the final face off.

Katie Sheldon’s Women’s Gold Cup opponent 

Interestingly, that final clash saw a match up of a Dublin darts duo who are very familiar with each other.

In just February of this year, Byrne and Sheldon won the ‘All Ireland Pairs’ competition for the third year in a row, and have even competed together on the international stage.

Last October, they, alongside Breen and Aoife McCormack, won the World Darts Federation World Cup in Denmark, becoming the first nation other than England or the Netherlands to do so.

On Sunday though, it was against each other they played, with Sheldon ultimately coming out on top.

Speaking with Her Sport back in 2021, it’s clear Sheldon’s mindset is what continues to propel her towards success.

“It doesn’t matter about what you’re doing or what sport you’re playing but if you just put your mindset into something and put as much work in as you can anything is possible,” she says.

““I don’t know if people are maybe a bit intimidated by playing against men or whatever, but I think once you catch the bug and once you start playing and feel comfortable, you then realise that you just have to take it as another thing..Ot doesn’t matter if you’re playing one of the lads, if you’re playing an older man, if you’re playing a woman, you just have to get on with it.”

“Darts is one of these sports that some days it goes for you and some days it doesn’t, and the days that it doesn’t go your way you just have to take a step back and look at the positives,” she adds.