Gerwyn Price keeps reaching the business end of majors, but winning one again is proving far harder. Three semi-finals and two finals in 2026 suggest his near four-year wait cannot last much longer, but every missed opportunity leaves the same nagging doubt: does The Iceman still have the killer instinct to finish the job?
At his peak, Price made a habit of taking his biggest chances. He won all three Grand Slam finals he contested, his only World Championship final and his first two World Series Finals. The first of those Grand Slam victories made him Wales’ first PDC major champion, while his Alexandra Palace triumph in 2021 sent him to world number one. His second World Series Finals title in 2022 was his seventh individual major. It remains his most recent.
Price’s latest near-miss against Ross Smith in Amsterdam brought that wait into focus on DartsNews Podcast #11, where host Kieran Wood was joined by Nicolas Gayer and Samuel Gill. Price has reached at least the semi-finals of every individual TV major staged during the 2026 calendar year. At the World Masters, he lost 5-4 to Luke Littler in the semi-finals. At the UK Open, he lost 11-8 to James Wade in the semi-finals. In the Premier League, he lost 10-9 to Luke Littler on Finals Night in the semi-finals. At the World Matchplay, he was runner-up, losing 18-9 to Luke Littler. At the World Series of Darts Finals, he was runner-up, losing 11-5 to Ross Smith. Price’s matches at the 2026 PDC World Championship were played in December 2025 and are therefore excluded from the calendar-year sequence.
“Price’s wait for a PDC major is now approaching four years,” Wood said. “In that time, 14 different players have won an individual major title.” That group includes former world champions Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Peter Wright, alongside first-time major winners such as Andrew Gilding, Mike De Decker, Ritchie Edhouse and Gian van Veen. Smith became the 14th by beating Price in Amsterdam.
Price reached the Amsterdam final after successive averages above 103, beating James Wade 10-7 in the quarter-finals and Jonny Clayton 11-7 in the last four. “The level was so, so good. It was another very good run by Gezzy, who just seems to walk into these TV finals now without making any big headlines,” Gayer said. “We talk so much about all the stuff happening away from the oche. He is injured, then he makes Premier League Finals Night. He has health issues and pulls out of the World Cup and many events, then makes the World Matchplay final. We talk about a rollercoaster year for him, and now he is in the World Series of Darts final again. It seems like we always talk about the stuff happening away from the oche, but on it he is one of the best players this year. He looks in good shape to make another mark in the coming weeks.”
Price has still collected trophies in 2026. He thrashed Andrew Gilding 8-1 to win Players Championship 6 before beating Smith 8-6 in the European Darts Grand Prix final to secure a tenth European Tour title. On the major stage, the final step has remained out of reach.
Those scars were not all created this year. Price also lost the 2023 Premier League and World Grand Prix finals, meaning his four appearances in a major final since last lifting a title have all ended in defeat. “I think he just needs to get over the line. He has this issue where he keeps getting to major finals and never gets over the line,” Gill said. “He keeps talking about being at the best point in his career, but he knows himself and has said it previously: he is just not winning majors when a player of his ability should be. Once Littler was out, you should look at a final between Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price and think Price will win. But I thought Ross Smith was going to win because of the scar tissue of not being able to get over the line in finals.”
Some of those defeats could hardly have been closer. Price took Littler to a deciding set at the World Masters and fought back from 9-4 down to force a final leg against him at Premier League Finals Night. At the World Matchplay, Price averaged 104.92 in the final and still lost 18-9 as Littler produced a record-breaking 111.53. “Luke is one in a million,” Price admitted afterwards. “I threw everything at him. I think I played pretty decent that game.” Amsterdam offered less comfort. Smith won the final six legs from 5-5 as Price finished with only 26 per cent on his doubles.
Gill also looked at the price Price may be paying for such a stop-start season. “With him not being in good health or fitness, it halts him because he cannot play as much darts as he wants. Then you do not get into the run of form you want at the end of the season,” he said. “You might lose in the first round or get to a final and run out of gas compared with players who have been well through the year and perhaps taken more time off. Price cannot really do that because he is injured or has health issues. He might get to the latter end of a tournament and fail, like he did this weekend. But he certainly had a good weekend and is one to watch for the rest of the year.”
Price tore into his Amsterdam performance before playing down what another missed major meant to him. “I was absolute rubbish in that final, but don’t take anything away from Ross. He was brilliant,” he told ITV4. “I’m playing some good darts, I’m earning some good money. If I never win a major again I really don’t care as long as I’m doing well. Obviously I’m gutted now I’ve lost, but if I never win another major, I’ve got a good family and I’ve invested all my money. I don’t mind. I’m absolutely gutted today, but I’m doing well.” Gayer was not buying it. “I don’t really believe any top sportsman if they say they don’t care about winning or losing,” he said.
Monday brings another chance at a major Price knows how to win. He lifted the World Grand Prix title in 2020 before returning to the final in 2021 and 2023, losing to Jonny Clayton and Luke Humphries respectively. Price opens against Sebastian Bialecki at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena. Notably, Ross Smith faces Cameron Menzies in the same section of the draw. If both Amsterdam finalists survive the opening round, they will meet again just eight days later.