James Wade equals personal record, but still waits for European Tour triumph last achieved nine years ago

For years now, James Wade has been at the top of darts, winning titles and completing deep runs in events. He has continued that by levelling his personal record for European Tour semi-finals achieved in a single year, with his fourth one coming at the recent Czech Darts Open.

He has equalled his highest tally he made back in 2018. Not just that, but he has done it in one less event, with him competing in 11 tournaments back in 2018, compared to the 10 he has so far turned up to. Wade's next best tally came in 2015 with three, whilst achieving two semi-finals in 2012, 2016, and 2019.

Despite this, he has only managed to reach the final five times from 21 last four appearances, winning two titles. The last victory came at the European Darts Matchplay back in 2016, where he overcame Dave Chsinall in a last leg decider. His last final was in 2018, getting destroyed by Michael van Gerwen, with there being over 30 points gap in the averages between the two.

Wade's European Tour form has really picked up this year after a barren run. He started off his 2025 Euro Tour campaign with a semi-final appearance at the Belgium Darts Open, losing out to eventual champion Luke Littler. It was not until the Baltic Sea Darts Open that he made another run to the final four, getting thrashed by Gary Anderson. He followed it up with two consecutive semi-final runs in Antwerp and Prague.

He put on a show in Czechia, dumping out the former World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall whilst averaging over 107, a very performance uncharacteristic from Wade. His average would deplete somewhat from then, but it was still enough to bypass Ross Smith and Stephen Bunting to get to that magic four number. He could not make it a first final since 2018, losing 7-1 to world number one Luke Humphries.

He does not have the record number, with that being bestowed upon van Gerwen, who achieved eight semi-finals in 2017 and 2018.