Katie Sheldon with Darts In Ireland Podcast host, Keith Falkiner
World champion Katie is one of the hottest prospects in darts
KATIE Sheldon is one of the hottest prospects in Darts at the minute, the Tallaght native is a world champion already at just the age of 21 and is set to defend that title when she jets off to South Korea with the rest of the Irish team for the WDF World Cup held between the 22-27 of September.
Speaking on the Darts in Ireland podcast hosted by Keith Falkiner Katie spoke about being the number one woman in Ireland.
“I think you are your own self critic as I would say the last little while for me hasn’t been as great as it should be.
‘Although I have been nicking the results at the INDOs [Irish ranked events], I know my own ability and I know where my game can be.
‘You just have to keep pushing, keep trying and obviously every win builds on your confidence.
‘I know the potential I do have and once I start to find that consistently in England then a win in the PDC Women’s series isn’t too far away.”
Speaking with The Echo in an exclusive interview, Sheldon touched on the previous World Cup win with Ireland back in 2023, she described the achievement.
“The World Cup is massive in any sport and to win in a sport that you’ve dedicated so many years to it’s very very special and one of the biggest I’ve ever won.
‘When you go away to these events, the whole plan is to go in and win it but sometimes these things never happen and sometimes the plan doesn’t always fall into place.
‘That week we were away, everything was falling into place for us, we all played so well which was amazing.
‘Sometimes when that happens in the back of your head you’re thinking, maybe we could do it this year, maybe we could but you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself too quickly.”
Sheldon picked up Darts at the age of 9 after being introduced to the game thanks to a dartboard owned by her grandfather.
After much pestering she convinced her own father to get her one and has been obsessed ever since.
Now over a decade later much of her life is taking up by Darts playing four out of five weeknights and often travelling around the country on weekends to play in various competitions.
“I think as you get older you have to sacrifice things whether its parties or communions or all sorts of things but at the end of the day when you come home with wins and big wins at that it makes it all really worth it.
‘It shows that you’re doing this for a reason. I think I’m at a stage now where I’m more than happy to go to the darts, that’s where my priority is in life.
‘I want to do as well as I can when I’m at the darts. For now and as it’s always been, darts is my number one priority.”
“I’ve been playing darts since I was nine years of age and when you put that into perspective winning a World Cup at 21 is absolutely massive.
‘Alongside some amazing women it wouldn’t have been possible without the other ladies as well but it makes it all so worth it.”
Speaking about the world cup Sheldon commented.
“There’s been loads of preparation going on in the background, I’ve been playing in loads of different tournaments.
‘Just to make sure I’m ready to go. I’m looking forward to it, I love travelling.
‘Especially representing your country there’s not many better feelings than that.
‘Especially going away with people I call friends and to play on a team with them is going to be special.
‘I’m looking forward to it. It’s hard to win something once but it’s always harder to win something twice.
‘We’ve definitely got a target on our back and I’m sure people are going to want to beat us and we’re going to want to beat them as well. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sure the girls are too.”
