Raymond van Barneveld has secured his place at the World Darts Championship despite a difficult season. The 59-year-old from The Hague had to wait until the final Players Championship events to confirm his place at Alexandra Palace. Remarkably, improved performances were down not only to new darts, but also to a different pair of shoes.

Van Barneveld secured his 34th World Championship appearance in Leicester on Thursday. The five-time world champion now holds the record outright. Steve Beaton, with whom he previously shared the record, appeared at the World Championship 33 times.

The Dutchman was hugely relieved after fearing for a long time that he would miss the biggest tournament of the year. “The release of pressure was enormous when I finally made it,” Van Barneveld told NU.nl. “The pressure was inhuman. In the past, I knew by February or March that I’d qualified for the World Championship. This time, it came down to the final two floor events. Earlier this year, I was thinking: ‘Good grief, do I even belong here anymore?’”

A surprising discovery during practice

A practice session in his garage recently gave Van Barneveld an unexpected idea. While throwing in a pair of white Nike Air Force 1s, he noticed that his darts were landing unusually well.

“I normally always wear ECCO shoes when I play darts,” the 59-year-old Van Barneveld said. “But I was playing well in those white Nikes. I was standing slightly higher than in my other shoes and hitting all sorts of trebles. I thought: what’s going on here? The height of the shoe can make a big difference.”

He called over his girlfriend, Julia, to see the surprising discovery for herself. “I said, ‘You have to look at this.’ She said, ‘Yes, this is really bizarre.’ White trainers don’t look right with black trousers, so I asked Julia to find the same model in black.”

Van Barneveld then wore the new shoes at the final two floor events of the season. “I’ve played in them for two days now, and you wouldn’t believe it. The darts sit differently in the board, and they go in. Go figure. After 42 years, you change something and suddenly it works.”

Raymond van Barneveld will compete at the World Darts Championship for the 34th time

A disastrous start to the season

Qualification for the World Championship seemed a long way off for much of the season. Van Barneveld had to qualify through the Players Championship rankings, but made a particularly difficult start.

“I lost in the first round 17 times in the first 22 floor events. At that point, you think: what am I doing? It was an absolute disgrace. All in all, it was a dreadful year in which I had to scrape together prize money. But I got there in the end.”

Alongside his new shoes, Van Barneveld has also been using slimmer darts in recent months. He has also moved to Milton Keynes, meaning he no longer has to make such long journeys to the floor events in England.

Even so, winning matches consistently remained difficult. “People suddenly start winning matches when they see my face,” he said. “Sometimes I’m standing behind my opponent, looking up at the heavens and thinking: how can this happen again? It feels as though they’re allowed a fourth dart against me.”

His diabetes and sleep problems also make things difficult at times. “You wake up at 3 a.m. and spend hours tossing and turning. Then you have to get up at 8 a.m. the next day to be at the venue by 10. I’m not a young guy anymore, of course. You feel it.”

Van Barneveld postpones retirement

Qualifying for the World Championship also has implications for his future. Van Barneveld still has a Tour Card for next year and plans to continue his career. “That gives me the confidence to give it another go next year,” he said.

“If I hadn’t qualified, I would have wondered whether I should carry on. In that case, I might have stopped in April, on my 60th birthday. But I’m going to continue next year, although I won’t play anywhere near every event.”

First up is the World Darts Championship, where Van Barneveld was knocked out in the opening round in each of the past two editions, by Nick Kenny and Stefan Bellmont. This time, the Dutchman is deliberately keeping his expectations modest.

“I’m not going to say I can win the World Championship, because that’s not realistic. You also need a good draw. I’m not seeded, so I could draw Luke Littler straight away. Above all, I hope I can start the tournament late, because otherwise it could be over very quickly again. We have a trip to Disneyland Paris planned between Christmas and New Year. But if I go deep, they’ll have to go without me.”