2026 World Grand Prix: 44.09% Is a Checkout Rate, Not a Double-In Record
Bialecki’s reported 44.09% led a pre-event checkout list—not a double-in table. See the distinction and what a valid 2026 ranking needs.
Sebastian Bialecki’s reported 44.09% was a pre-event 2026 checkout percentage—not the best double-in percentage at the World Grand Prix. The Darts News preview ranked five players by finishing accuracy. It does not establish who led the completed tournament for starting doubles.
As of 30 October 2026, the figures below are a reported pre-event finishing comparison, not a confirmed World Grand Prix double-in leaderboard.
What double-in percentage measures
At the World Grand Prix, players must hit a double before points begin counting in each leg, then finish on a double. The bullseye also qualifies, as Sky Sports’ format explanation confirms.
For a dart-based starting statistic:
Double-in percentage = successful starting doubles ÷ darts attempted to start × 100.
Consider this hypothetical opening visit:
- Dart one misses double 16: no points count.
- Dart two hits double 16: 32 points count, leaving 469.
- Dart three hits treble 20: another 60 points count, leaving 409.
That leg contributes one successful start from two starting-double attempts: 50%. The treble 20 is a scoring dart, not a starting attempt.
It also contributes zero first-dart starts, but one successful first-visit start. Those are different metrics: a player can start within the opening visit without being particularly accurate per dart.
Checkout percentage measures attempts to finish legs. Starting and finishing involve doubles, but their percentages are not interchangeable.
What the reported 2026 top five actually ranked
The preview listed the following 2026 checkout rates before the event, rather than starting-double results from the tournament:
| Reported rank | Player | Pre-event checkout percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Bialecki | 44.09% |
| 2 | Wessel Nijman | 43.89% |
| 3 | James Wade | 43.42% |
| 4 | Gerwyn Price | 43.11% |
| 5 | Jonny Clayton | 42.80% |
Source: Darts News’ pre-event analysis. The article does not supply the underlying checkout-attempt totals or a reproducible competition filter for this list.
The gap between first and fifth is 1.29 percentage points. That small spread says nothing directly about how often these players opened a World Grand Prix leg with their first dart.
Nor does the list identify the champion. The tournament ended on 4 October, with Luke Humphries beating Price 6–4 in sets; Bialecki lost 2–0 to Price in round one. Both the Sky Sports results and Sporting News tournament guide identify Humphries as the winner. Winning the title does not, by itself, establish the highest double-in rate.
What a valid “best double-in” answer needs
A defensible ranking needs each player’s successful starts and starting attempts from the 2026 World Grand Prix only, plus a clear scope: one match or the entire tournament. Sample size matters—a first-round appearance and a run to the final offer very different amounts of evidence.
Across matches, calculate the rate from combined hits and attempts; do not simply average match percentages. For example, 6 starts from 10 attempts and 6 from 20 produce 12 ÷ 30 = 40%, not the unweighted mean of 60% and 30%.
For your own pub or league double-start practice, record starting attempts separately from finishing attempts and keep the counts alongside the percentages. For the related scoring question, see how double-in affects World Grand Prix averages.