Kevin Spiolek
| Kevin Spiolek | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | May 5, 1962 Cambridge, England |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1987 |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1987 to 1993 |
| PDC | 1994 to 2007 |
| Current world ranking | N/A |
| BDO majors - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Quarter-final 1992 |
| World Masters | Semi-final 1987 |
| PDC premier events - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Quarter-final 1995 |
| World Matchplay | Quarter-final 1997 |
| UK Open | Last 128 2005 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| Isle of Man Open | 1993 |
| Other achievements | |
| 1993 - Last player to beat Phil Taylor at World Championship outside the final until 2008 | |
Kevin Spiolek (born May 5, 1962 in Cambridge) is an English darts player who played during the 1980s and 1990s. He made a brief return to form in 2006 when qualifying to play in the PDC World Darts Championship.
His best form came in the late 1980s where he reached the semi finals of the 1987 Winmau World Masters losing to Bob Anderson. In 1988, Spiolek reached the final of the prestigious News of the World Darts Championship, losing to Mike Gregory.
Spiolek is one of the only players to have beaten Phil Taylor at the World Championship - having knocked him out in the second round at Lakeside in the 1993 World Championship - the last time that there was a unified World Championship. Spiolek was eliminated in the next round - to date, two quarter-finals are the best results he has achieved in World Championships.
He joined the other top 16 players in 1992 who created their own organisation (the World Darts Council which later became the Professional Darts Corporation). In 1994 he reached the final of the Greene King Masters - losing to Taylor. Spiolek played in the first seven PDC World Championships after the split in the game with his best performance being another quarter-final in 1995.
He reached the final of the North American Cup in 1996 and the quarter finals of the World Matchplay in 1997 but then gradually faded from the scene. His performance in qualifying for the 2006 PDC World Championship (where he lost in the first round to Peter Manley) kept him in the top 100 of the PDC world rankings until January 2008.
He had continued to play in the domestic Pro Tour events on the PDC circuit during 2005 and 2006 - playing in more than 10 events on the PDC Pro Tour but he has remained inactive on the circuit since the Players Championship in Gibraltar in January 2007. Due to this two-year inactivity, he is now unranked.
He now works as an Area Sales Rep for a stainless steel stockholder.
