Florian Hempel | |
Fullname: | Florian Hempel |
Birth Place: | Dessau, East Germany |
Hometown: | Cologne, Germany |
Since: | 2017 |
Darts: | 25gWinmau[1] |
Laterality: | Right-handed |
Music: | "Kölsche Jung" by Brings |
Pdc: | 2018– (Tour Card: 2021-) |
Pdc World: | Last 32: 2022, 2024 |
Uk Open: | Last 64: 2022, 2023, 2024 |
European: | Last 16: 2021 |
Florian Hempel (born 10 April 1990) is a German professional darts player and former handball player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.
Hempel began his sporting career in handball, playing as a goalkeeper for, where he made his professional debut in 2010, and later played for . Achieving little success, Hempel quit the sport and began playing darts. He made his PDC European Tour debut in the 2019 Dutch Darts Masters, and gained his tour card in 2021.
Born in Dessau, East Germany,[2] Hempel was a goalkeeper in handball, beginning his career with SG Kühnau,[3] before moving to in the 2010–11 2. Handball-Bundesliga season.[4] This proved to be his only appearance in the division,[5] and made a further two appearances in the third tier.[3] In 2016, Hempel ended his handball career in Cologne with,[6] where he had moved to advance his educational studies;[3] he eventually qualified as a fitness coach and nutritionist.[7]
Hempel began playing darts in his flat in 2017,[4] [5] and in 2018 quit his job, registered for unemployment benefits, and took on darts as a full-time job.[8]
On his PDC European Tour debut at the Dutch Darts Masters in May 2019, he whitewashed Ryan Harrington 6–0.[9] Hempel lost to Simon Whitlock 6–3 in the second round.
Having previously attempted to gain a Tour Card in both 2018 and 2020,[10] Hempel won a PDC Tour Card at 2021 European Q-School, winning the event 3 final.[11] In March, he withdrew from the UK Open due to family reasons.[12] In April, he completed his first nine-dart finish during a European Super League whitewash victory over Marco Obst.[13]
Hempel made his PDC televised début in October at the 2021 European Championship, eliminating reigning champion Peter Wright 6–3.[14] The following week, he reached his first semi-final on the PDC Pro Tour before losing there 7–3 to Michael Smith.[15] Ahead of his PDC World Darts Championship début, Hempel featured as a guest commentator on Sport1 for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts.[2] During the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Hempel caused a "major upset" when he defeated fifth seed Dimitri Van den Bergh in the second round, averaging 98.37,[7] and described it as "madness".[16] He would go on to lose 4–1 to Australia's Raymond Smith in the third round.
At the 2024 World Championship, Hempel faced Dylan Slevin in the first round. Slevin won the first set and hit a 167 checkout in the second set, but Hempel managed to mount a comeback to win the match 3–1. In the second round, Hempel defeated Dimitri Van den Bergh 3–2, despite losing the first two sets. The match was a repeat of the 2022 second round tie which Hempel also won.[17] In the third round, Hempel was whitewashed 0–4 by Stephen Bunting.
Tournament | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNQ | 3R | 2R | 3R | |||||||||||||
UK Open | WD | 4R | ||||||||||||||
European Championship | 2R | DNQ | ||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||
Year-end ranking | 62 | 50 | 60 |
PDC European Tour
Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | EDO DNQ | GDC DNQ | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNP | EDG DNQ | DDM 2R | DDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | ADC DNQ | EDM 1R | IDO DNQ | GDT DNQ |
2020 | BDC DNP | GDC DNQ | EDG DNP | IDO DNQ | |||||||||
2021 | HDT 2R | GDT 2R | |||||||||||
2022 | IDO 1R | GDC DNQ | GDG DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO DNQ | CDO 1R | EDG DNQ | DDC DNQ | EDM 2R | HDT DNQ | GDO DNQ | BDO DNQ | GDT DNQ |
2023 | BSD 1R | EDO 1R | IDO 2R | GDG 1R | ADO DNQ | DDC DNQ | BDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | EDG DNQ | EDM DNQ | GDO 3R | HDT DNQ | GDC 1R |
Performance timeline legend | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNP | Did not play in the event | DNQ | Did not qualify for the event | WD | Withdrew from the event |
| lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = Round robin) | |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals | SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held; (EX) Excluded; (WD) Withdrew