Thibault Tricole

Thibault Tricole
Thibault Tricole
	Tricole in 2018
Personal information
Nickname	"The French Touch"
Born	11 October 1989 (age 35); Auray, France
Home town	Malguénac, France
Darts information
Playing darts since	2002
Darts	24g Winmau
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Essentielles" by Ibrahim Maalouf
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2010–2020
PDC	2021– ; (Tour Card: 2024-)
WDF	2010–2023
Current world ranking	82 1 (31 October 2024)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Runner Up: 2022
World Masters	Last 32: 2019
Dutch Open	Semi Final: 2022
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 64: 2024
UK Open	Last 96: 2024
Other tournament wins
Denmark Open	2021
Greek Open	2019
Isle of Man Masters	2020
Italian Open	2022
PDC Challenge Tour	2022, 2023
PDC West Europe Qualifier	2023
Torremolinos Open	2019
Welsh Classic	2021

Thibault Tricole (born 11 October 1989) is a French professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the first French player to advance to the final of a World Darts Championship and the most successful darts player to come from France.

Career

Since 2010, Tricole has occasionally competed in British Darts Organisation and World Darts Federation tournaments, including several times at the Winmau World Masters, but without any notable success. In 2019, he tried his hand at Q-School of the PDC for the first time, but was unable to secure a tour card. During the year, he played significantly more British Darts Organisation tournaments than in previous years and was able to win his first tournaments at the Torremolinos Open and Greek Open. He also reached fourth round at the 2019 World Masters. He was also in finals at the Belfry Open, Malta Open and Italian Open.

Tricole was the first Frenchman ever to qualify for the 2020 BDO World Darts Championship as a Western European Qualifier.^[2] In the preliminary round he beat Ross Montgomery in a sudden-death leg. In the first round, Tricole lost 1–3 by sets to Ryan Hogarth. Tricole narrowly missed out on a tour card at Q-School in 2020, and the Frenchman won the Isle of Man Masters in March. In 2021, Tricole reached the semi-finals on the PDC Challenge Tour once. At the beginning of October, he won the Denmark Open with a 6–3 over Andreas Harrysson in the final and a little later he also won the Welsh Classic.

In 2022, there was another attempt at Q-School, but again without the success of the tour card. At the end of March, Tricole advanced to his first two Players Championships. In April, the Frenchman went into the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship as seed and survived a few match darts in his first round match against Shawn Burt. Things went better against Steve Hine, whom he defeated 3–1 in sets. He also narrowly eliminated Andy Baetens with 4–3 in sets, and in the decider he also defeated Cameron Menzies and thus made it into the final. Tricole managed to become the first Frenchman to reach a World Darts Championship final where he ended up being defeated by Neil Duff 5–6 in sets.

His PDC European Tour debut at the 2022 Austrian Darts Open was narrowly lost in the decider leg against Zoran Lerchbacher. At the Players Championship tournaments as a substitute for other Pro Tour players, Tricole made it into the third round. His second PDC European Tour appearance was at the 2022 Hungarian Darts Trophy, where he lost 4–6 in legs to Karel Sedlacek in the first round. In June, Tricole took part in the 2022 Dutch Open and reached the semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Jelle Klaasen 1–2 in sets.

In November 2023, he took part in the qualifying tournament for the PDC World Darts Championship for players from Western Europe. He won these tournament by defeating Wesley Plaisier in the final match by a 7–4 in legs and qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.^[3] Tricole became the first person to represent France at the PDC World Championship, by definition becoming the first Frenchman to claim a victory at the competition, defeating Mario Vandenbogaerde 3–1 in the First Round before falling to a 3–0 defeat at the hands of Rob Cross.^[4]

World Championship results

BDO/WDF

2020: First round (lost to Ryan Hogarth 1–3)
2022: Runner-up (lost to Neil Duff 5–6)

PDC

2024: Second round (lost to Rob Cross 0–3)

Career finals

WDF major finals: (1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Runner-up	1.	2022	World Darts Championship	Neil Duff	5–6 (s)

^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
PDC Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNQ														2R
UK Open	DNQ													1R	3R
Players Championship Finals	DNQ
PDC Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP	NH	DNP		DNQ	DNP								QF	2R
WDF Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNQ										1R	NH	F	WD	PDC
World Masters	1R	DNP	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	3R	4R	NH		RR	NH	PDC
Dutch Open	DNP								5R	DNP			SF	DNP	PDC
Career statistics
Year-end ranking (PDC)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	160	112

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2022	IDO DNP	GDC DNP	GDG DNP	ADO 1R	EDO DNP	CDO DNP	EDG DNP	DDC DNP	EDM DNP	HDT 1R	GDO DNP	BDO DNP	GDT DNP
2023	BSD DNP	EDO DNP	IDO DNP	GDG DNP	ADO DNP	DDC DNP	BDO DNP	CDO DNP	EDG DNP	EDM DNP	GDO DNP	HDT DNP	GDC DNP
2024	BDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	BSD 1R	DDC DNQ	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	FDT DNQ	HDT	SDT	CDO

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI QF	LEI 2R	HIL 3R	HIL 4R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL SF	WIG 3R	WIG 4R	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 4R

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	NYF	Not yet founded

References

^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
^ "Field for men's and ladies BDO World Darts Championship 2020 confirmed". dartsnews.com. 30 September 2019.
^ "PDC W. Europe World Championship Qualifier 2023". DartConnect. 18 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
^ "Price powers through to round three, as Leung stuns Van Veen". www.pdc.tv. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.

External links

Player profile for Thibault Tricole from Dartsdatabase

[score-5] (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

[PDC_Rankings-1] "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.

[2] "Field for men's and ladies BDO World Darts Championship 2020 confirmed". dartsnews.com. 30 September 2019.

[3] "PDC W. Europe World Championship Qualifier 2023". DartConnect. 18 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.

[4] "Price powers through to round three, as Leung stuns Van Veen". www.pdc.tv. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.

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