The 2024 WDF calendar kicked off with the Junior Pacific Masters in Australia and it was there that Letrell Allen and Janiya Finlay became the year’s first title winners.
Allen downs Galby to win maiden WDF Youth title
In the Boys Pacific Masters, Letrell Allen showed real signs of promise as he came through the field to win his first WDF Youth title.
After progressing from the round-robin stage of the competition, Allen beat Lucas Brow 2-0 in the Last 16 to book a quarter-final meeting with the 2023 runner-up Landon Key.
Key had produced some of the tournament’s best averages but Allen beat him 3-2 and followed up that victory with a 4-2 triumph over Zane Kilroy to reach the final.
There, Allen took on 2022 Boys Pacific Masters champion Mitchell Galby. Having held throw in a scrappy opening leg, the key moment of the match came in the second leg as Allen broke the Galby throw with a 18-darter.
From there, every leg went with throw, with Allen sealing a 5-2 victory with a match-best 16-darter.
Finlay defends title in Girls Pacific Masters
Janiya Finlay cemented her status as Australia’s top female teenage prospect by retaining the Girls Pacific Masters crown she first won in 2023.
Finlay, who represented Australia at the 2023 WDF World Cup in Denmark, didn’t have it all her own way though as every one of her matches in the knockout stage went to a last-leg decider.
She proved her battling instincts though, beating Gemma Spence 3-2 in the semi-finals before prevailing 4-3 against Caitlynn Ainsworth to claim the title.
