Ricky Evans (born 29 July 1990) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Rapid" due to his very fast throwing speed, he was a semi-finalist at the 2024 UK Open. Evans also made the quarter-finals at the 2019 European Championship and the 2025 Grand Slam. He is a six-time PDC Pro Tour finalist, including two finals on the PDC European Tour.
In his youth career, Evans won two titles on the PDC Development Tour, and was the runner-up at the 2013 PDC World Youth Championship.
Career
From 2007 to 2012 Evans attempted to qualify for each BDO World Championship but was unsuccessful. In 2011, Evans won a PDC Youth Tour event by beating David Coyne 4–1 in the final. He has played in the World Masters five times with his best finish coming in 2012 where he lost in the last 48 to James Wilson.
In 2013, Evans played in the Qualifying School to earn a tour card for the Professional Darts Corporation events and succeeded on the first day. Less than two months later he reached the quarter-finals of a PDC Pro Tour event for the first time by beating Gary Anderson 6–5 in the last 16 of the second UK Open Qualifier, before he lost 6–3 to Peter Wright. This saw him enter the UK Open in the second round stage where he was defeated 5–2 by Joe Cullen. Evans won through to the final of the World Under-21 World Championship which was played on the finals night of the Premier League Darts at the O2 Arena in London, with Evans losing 6–1 to Michael Smith. However, the result was enough to see him reach the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time, but he lost each of his Group E games to Raymond van Barneveld, Mervyn King and Tony O'Shea to finish bottom of the table.
Evans advanced to his first final in main PDC events at the 13th Players Championship of the year. He beat established players such as Gary Anderson, Ronnie Baxter, Jamie Caven and Ian White, before losing 6–3 against Brendan Dolan. Evans' successful debut season continued later in the month as he was a losing semi-finalist at the final Players Championship. He amassed £11,550 in ProTour events during the year which saw him qualify through the Order of Merit for his first PDC World Championship where he outplayed the experienced Baxter in the first round to win 3–0 in sets. Evans next faced 14th seed Mervyn King but ultimately fell to the veteran 4–2 in sets. After the match King praised Evans' performance and described him as "the future of our sport". Evans was ranked world number 56 after his debut season on the PDC tour.
He could not get beyond the last 128 in any of the six qualifiers for the 2014 UK Open, which resulted in his failure to qualify for the event. Evans' form improved as the year progressed by qualifying for the final two European Tour events. At the European Darts Grand Prix he beat Jelle Klaasen 6–3, but lost 6–5 against Vincent van der Voort in the second round and at the European Darts Trophy he was eliminated in the first round 6–5 by Klaasen. In November, Evans reached the last 16 for the only time this year at the 20th and final Players Championship where he lost 6–3 to Ian White.
At the second UK Open Qualifier of 2015, Evans progressed through to his first quarter-final in over a year where he lost 6–3 to Vincent van der Voort. He reached the third round of the UK Open for the first time by beating Mark Layton 5–3, but then lost 9–4 to James Wilson. A second quarter-final appearance this year came at the fifth Players Championship where, after defeating Colin Osborne, Andy Smith, Jamie Robinson and Devon Petersen, he lost 6–2 to Keegan Brown.
Evans won the qualifier for the 2016 World Championship with a 5–4 victory over Andy Boulton. He played 2010 runner-up Simon Whitlock in the first round and, having trailed 2–0 in sets and 2–0 in legs (surviving two match darts), Evans mounted a comeback to eventually win the match 3–2 with a 130 checkout. However, Evans lost 10 legs in a row in his second round match against Jamie Caven to be knocked out 4–0. A 9–5 victory over Andy Boulton saw Evans play in the fourth round of the UK Open for the first time, but he missed match darts against Darren Webster to lose 9–8 after leading 4–1 early on. A quarter-final appearance came at the seventh Players Championship event (lost 6–2 to Gerwyn Price) and he went one better at the 16th event to reach his first semi-final in nearly three years. He also missed double 12 for a nine darter during the day, before losing 6–4 to Steve West in the last four. These results have seen Evans qualify for the Players Championship Finals and he faced James Wade in the first round.
Evans' first round match with Michael Smith at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set in which he failed to win a leg to be beaten 3–2. He reached the semi-finals of the first UK Open Qualifier, but lost 6–4 to Adrian Lewis.
At the 2018 Dutch Darts Championship, Evans made his first PDC European Tour final, where he lost 8–5 to Ian White.
In 2019, he followed that up with another runner-up spot at Players Championship 6 before reaching his second European Tour final at the 2019 German Darts Championship, where he lost 8–6 to Daryl Gurney.
In March 2024, Evans reached his first premier event semi-final at the 2024 UK Open by defeating Rob Cross. He was defeated by Luke Humphries 11–2.
Playing style Evans is known for his incredible dart throwing speed, and has been described by Sky pundit Wayne Mardle as the quickest player he's ever seen. Evans will usually throw three darts within three to five seconds of approaching the oche unless changing position or going for a double, a trait which has led to his nickname of 'Rapid'.
During the 2017 World Championship, Evans hit a 180 in just 2.16 seconds during his first round match against Michael Smith.
World Championship results PDC World Championship 2014: Second round (lost to Mervyn King 2–4) 2016: Second round (lost to Jamie Caven 0–4) 2017: First round (lost to Michael Smith 2–3) 2019: First round (lost to Rowby-John Rodriguez 1–3) 2020: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4) 2021: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4) 2022: Second round (lost to Daryl Gurney 1–3) 2023: Second round (lost to Joe Cullen 1–3) 2024: Third round (lost to Daryl Gurney 2–4) 2025: Third round (lost to Robert Owen 2–4) 2026: Third round (lost to Charlie Manby 2–4)
Performance timeline Ricky Evans' performance timeline is as follows:
BDO Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012BDO Ranked televised events 1R 3R 3R 2R 4R
PDC Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipBDO2RDNQ2R1RDNQ1R3R3R2R2R3R3R3R World MastersDid not qualifyPrel.Prel. UK Open2RBDO3RDNQ3R4R3R4R4R5R5R6R4RSF4R4R World MatchplayBDODid not qualify1R1RDid not qualify World Grand PrixBDODid not qualify1R1RDid not qualify European ChampionshipBDODid not qualify2RQFDid not qualify Grand SlamDid not qualifyRRDid not qualifyRRDid not qualifyQF BDODid not qualify1RDNQ3R2R1R1R1R1R1R1RPDC Non-ranked televised events World Series FinalsNot heldDid not qualify1RDNQ2RDNQ NHDNP 2R FDid not participateCareer statisticsYear-end rankingNR56545548604928304148464540
European Tour Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 2013Did not qualifyGDC1RGDM1RDDMDNQ 2014Did not qualifyEDG2REDT1R 2015Did not qualifyDDM2RDid not qualifyEDG1R 2016DDM1RDid not qualifyIDO1REDT2RDNQ 2017GDCDNQGDM1RDid not qualifyIDODNQEDT1R 2018Did not qualifyEDG1RDDM1RGDTDNQDDO3REDMDNQGDC2RDDCFIDODNQEDT2R 2019EDODNQGDCFGDG3RGDODNQADO2REDG2RDDM3RDDO2RCDO2RADCQFEDM3RIDO3RGDTDNQ 2022IDODNQGDC2RGDGDNQADOQFEDODNQCDO3RDid not qualify 2023BSD1RDid not qualifyADO1RDDCDNQBDO2RCDODNQEDG2REDMDNQGDO2RDNQ 2024Did not qualifyADO1RDid not qualify 2025BDODNQEDT2RDid not qualifyEDO1RDid not qualifyGDC3R 2026PDODNQEDT2RBDO2RDNQBSDSFDid not qualifyCDO1RDNQDDC
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 31 32 33 34 2013WIG1RWIG3RWIG2RWIG1RCRA1RCRA1RBAR1RBAR1RDUB1RDUB2RKILPrel.KIL1RWIGFWIG1RBAR2RBARSF 2014BAR1RBAR3RCRA1RCRA1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG2RWIG1RCRA1RCRA1RCOV1RCOV1RCRA1RCRA1RDUB3RDUB2RCRA1RCRA2RCOV1RCOV4R 2015BAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR1RBARQFCOV3RCOV1RCOV3RCRA1RCRA2RBAR1RBAR2RWIG1RWIG1RBAR3RBAR1RDUB3RDUB1RCOV4RCOV2R 2016BAR3RBAR4RBAR3RBAR3RBAR1RBAR2RBARQFCOV3RCOV2RBAR2RBAR1RBAR3RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBARSFDUB3RDUB1RBAR1RBAR1R 2017BAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RMIL3RMIL1RBAR2RBAR3RWIG1RWIG2RMIL2RMIL2RWIG1RWIG1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR2RDUB1RDUB2RBAR1RBAR1R 2018BAR1RBAR4RBAR2RBAR4RMIL1RMIL4RBAR2RBAR4RWIG1RWIG1RMILQFMILQFWIGQFWIG1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR3RBAR1RDUB3RDUB4RBARQFBAR4R 2019WIG3RWIG1RWIG3RWIG1RBAR4RBARFWIG4RWIG1RBAR3RBAR1RBAR4RBAR2RBAR4RBAR3RBAR3RBAR2RWIG2RWIG1RBAR1RBAR1RHIL1RHIL4RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RDUB2RDUB1RBAR1RBAR1R 2020BAR2RBAR2RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG4RBAR3RBAR4RMIL4RMIL3RMIL3RMIL3RMIL1RNIE1RNIE4RNIE3RNIE3RNIE1RCOV2RCOV3RCOV1RCOV4RCOV2R 2021BOL3RBOL2RBOL3RBOL2RMIL3RMIL3RMIL1RMIL2RNIE1RNIE1RNIE2RNIE3RMIL3RMIL1RMIL2RMIL2RCOV1RCOV3RCOV3RCOV1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR3RBAR4RBAR2RBAR3RBAR2R 2022BAR2RBAR1RWIG1RWIG3RBAR3RBARFNIE3RNIE1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR3RBAR2RBAR1RWIG3RWIG3RNIE3RNIE1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR3RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1R 2023BAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RHIL1RHIL2RWIG1RWIG2RLEI1RLEI2RHIL1RHIL3RLEI2RLEI3RHIL2RHIL4RBAR3RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR3RBAR2RBAR1RBARQFBAR2RBAR2R 2024WIG2RWIG3RLEI2RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEI4RHIL2RHIL2RHIL1RHIL4RMIL4RMIL1RMIL1RMILFMIL1RMIL1RMIL1RWIG1RWIG1RMIL1RMIL1RWIG2RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI1R 2025WIG2RWIG1RROS1RROS2RLEI1RLEI1RHIL4RHIL2RLEI3RLEI1RLEI2RLEI2RROS2RROS2RHIL1RHILQFLEI1RLEI2RLEI4RLEI2RLEI3RHIL1RHIL3RMIL1RMIL2RHIL2RHIL1RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG3RWIG1RWIG4RWIG3R 2026HIL1RHIL2RWIG1RWIG2RLEI2RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG1RWIG1RMIL2RMIL1RHIL1RHIL2RLEI1RLEIDNPLEI1RLEI1RMIL1RMIL1RWIG1RWIG2RLEI1RLEI1RHIL1RHIL4RLEI1RLEI1RROS1RROS1RROSROSLEILEI
Key
References
External links
Ricky Evans player profile at Bull's NL Darts