Jacques Labre (born 6 November 1982) is a French professional steel-tip and soft-tip darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the first French player to gain a PDC Tour Card and become professional. He is a WDF Europe Cup champion and a first medalist of this tournament from France. He is also a Spanish Open Champion. He has represented his nation during the PDC World Cup of Darts, WDF World Cup and WDF Europe Cup.

Jacques Labre
Personal information
Full nameJacques Labre
Nickname"Biko"
Born (1982-11-06) 6 November 1982 (age 41)
Paris, France
Home townParis, France
Darts information
Playing darts since2001
Darts23g Cosmo Darts
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Stargazing" by Kygo
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2010–2020
PDC2023–
WDF2010–2022
Current world ranking110 Decrease 1 (28 April 2024)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World MastersLast 16: 2022
PDC premier events – best performances
UK OpenLast 96: 2024
Other tournament wins
Dartslive France Ch'ship 2017
PDC Challenge Tour 2022
Spanish Open 2022
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  France
WDF Europe Cup
Gold medal – first place 2022 Gandía Men's singles

Career edit

Labre starts own international career in 2010 at the Mediterranean Cup where he advanced to Last 32 phase. In this year, he was advanced to the same phase in the French Open tournament. In the following years, he only played in international soft-tip tournaments and returning in 2014 as a French debut representative at the 2014 PDC World Cup of Darts together with Lionel Maranhao. They lost first round match against Richie Burnett and Mark Webster from Wales in the decider leg. In the same year, he tried his luck in qualifying for one of the PDC European Tour tournaments, but lost.

In 2015, he make his first appearance at the 2015 Winmau World Masters, but lost in the first round match against Ted Evetts by 0–3 in legs.

In 2016, he was also eliminated in the first round of international tournaments, such as the WDF Europe Cup and the World Masters. In 2017, he reached the fourth round at the 2017 Winmau World Masters and two years later he lost in the third round to eventual winner John O'Shea. Apart from that, the career in the national team progressed rather slowly. He played for France in these events until 2019, although he rarely made it past the first round. A positive development could be seen in 2022. After attending Q-School, Labre played on the Challenge Tour, where he made it to the quarter-finals once.[2] High position in the PDC Challenge Tour ranking place him as substitute in the Players Championship competition, where he beat Ross Montgomery in his first match at this stage.[3]

At the end of September 2022, he was selected by the national federation to participate in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. On the third day of the tournament, he advanced to the finals of the singles competition, defeating Vegar Elvevoll, Alexander Mašek and Andy Baetens on the road to the final.[4] In the final, he beat Teemu Harju by 7–2 in legs and becoming the first medalist from France.[5][6] In the pairs and team competition, he did not make it to the final phase.

At the start of October 2022, he played at the inaugural Spanish Open tournament. In the final match, he beat Vítězslav Sedlák by 6–1 in legs, becoming the first Champion.

In January 2023, he took part in the PDC Q-School qualifying tournament.[7] After tournament finals, by the points in classification, he obtained a PDC Tour Card for the next two years.

Performance timeline edit

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
PDC Ranked televised events
UK Open DNQ 1R
PDC Non-ranked televised events
World Cup of Darts 1R DNQ QF
WDF Ranked televised events
World Masters DNQ 1R PR 4R 2R 3R NH 5R PDC
Career statistics
Year-end ranking (PDC) 221 172

References edit

  1. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 28 April 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Pallett clinches maiden Challenge Tour crown with Event 15 success". Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Players Championship 7-8 entries confirmed". Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. ^ "WDF Europe Cup Men Singles". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Surprising men's singles final set at WDF Europe Cup between Labre and Harju". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Labre and Greaves capture gold medal in singles at WDF Europe Cup". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Jacques Labre". mastercaller.com. Retrieved 15 January 2023.