Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the World Darts Championship, aged 21 at the time. He also is a Dutch Open champion. From November 2022 to April 2023 he was a leader of the World Darts Federation men's ranking.
Beginnings of his career
His first attempt at the international stage was a 2005 Winmau World Masters ended with a 2–3 defeat to Irishman Steve McDonald.
On 15 January 2006, Klaasen became the youngest World Darts Champion, aged 21 years 90 days, when he defeated fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the 2006 BDO World Championship by 7 sets to 5. He also beat Shaun Greatbatch and world number one Mervyn King on his way to the final. Before the championship, he was said to be a 100–1 outsider to win the title as he did not even have a BDO Ranking.
As World Champion, he was invited to the 2006 World Darts Trophy in his home country, but lost 0–3 to Tony Eccles in the first round. In 2007, he won in the first round 3–1 against reigning PDC World Champion Raymond van Barneveld, shortly after that he lost in the second round to Andy Hamilton. He also played in the 2006 International Darts League and beat 13-times World Champion Phil Taylor 7–6 in his last group match, but it was not enough to qualify for the knockout stages. He beat Andy Fordham and Dick van Dijk but lost to Martin Adams, Shaun Greatbatch and Colin Lloyd in his other group matches.
Klaasen has won some Open events in his native country including the Alkmaar Open. In March 2006 he was runner-up in the Finnish Open, losing in the final to Martin Atkins by 2–6. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open and Denmark Open during 2006. In 2006 Winmau World Masters, he was seeded 13 but suffered a straight sets defeat in his first match against fellow Dutchman Mario Robbe.
Klaasen returned to the Lakeside to defend his World title at the 2007 Championship. Klaasen was unseeded for the event after a poor run of form and was facing the seeded Co Stompé, with eventual winner Martin Adams waiting in round two should he win. Klaasen became the sixth defending champion to fall at the first hurdle in his title defence with his first round loss to fellow countryman Stompé by three sets to nil. Although Klaasen was lower in the rankings at the time, it was considered an upset as Stompé had not won at the Lakeside in the previous four years.
The day after the final it was announced that Klaasen would be defecting to the rival Professional Darts Corporation, alongside two fellow countrymen, Michael van Gerwen and Vincent van der Voort. The BDO planned to take legal action as Jelle had a year left on his contract.
PDC Career
Klaasen did not make an immediate impact on the PDC circuit, having to start virtually from scratch at 262 in the world rankings. He competed at most of the Pro Tour events (Players Championships and UK Open Regional Finals) to improve his ranking. He reached the quarter-finals of two non-televised Pro Tour events before winning a Players Championship – the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic in November which saw him climb to 49 in the PDC Order of Merit. He only made it into one televised PDC event in the UK during 2007 (the UK Open where he reached the last 32) but his form towards the end of the year ensured automatic qualification for the 2008 World Championship – his debut in the PDC version. He lost in the first round to fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort in a sudden death leg, having missed ten darts to win the match.
He defeated Colin Lloyd, Jan van der Rassel and Andy Hamilton to reach the quarter finals of the 2009 PDC World Championship, only dropping one set in the process. In the quarter finals, he was beaten by Van Barneveld 5–1. The match is best remembered for Barneveld hitting the first 9-dart leg in the history of the PDC World Championship.
In January 2009, Klaasen was chosen as one of the two wildcards for the 2009 Premier League Darts tournament, where he competed against Taylor, James Wade, Van Barneveld, John Part, Terry Jenkins, King and the other wildcard Wayne Mardle.
Klaasen found life hard in the Premier League, losing 5 and drawing 2 of his opening 7 matches. On 26 March, Klaasen defeated Terry Jenkins 8–6 to finally record his first victory in the competition. Klaasen finished 7th in the Premier League after Wayne Mardle withdrew from the competition. Klaasen qualified for the World Matchplay in Blackpool but lost 10–8 to Ronnie Baxter in the first round.