Six years after swapping rugby for darts, Gerwyn Price wins PDC World Darts Championship and overtakes Michael van Gerwen at top of rankings

Gerwyn Price has become the first Welshman to win the PDC World Darts Championship.

The 35-year old won a thrilling final against Gary Anderson 7-3 at Alexandra Palace on Sunday to lift the Sid Waddell trophy for the first time and collect a cool £500,000.

The victory also means Price overtakes Michael van Gerwen at the top of the world rankings, six years after he swapped professional rugby for darts.

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Price was dominant against his experienced opponent, who was searching for his third world title.

The 'Iceman' averaged 100, threw 13 maximums and produced the best set in the history of the PDC World Championship final - averaging an incredible 136.4 in the sixth set.

After storming into a 5-1 lead, Price faltered as he looked to close out the biggest win of his career.

He missed 11 match darts, as Anderson did his best to fight back.

But Price took his 12th opportunity to finish the job by hitting double five to clinch a 7-3 victory.

"I've never felt pressure like that in my life," he conceded.

"I've never been in that situation to win a world championship and it was tough.

"It's going to take a couple of days for it to sink in. I can't even speak, but this means the world.

"I was looking at the scoreboard and I bombed numerous opportunities and I had to have Gary to miss to give me another opportunity."

On becoming the new world number one, he added: "It's probably harder to get to world number one than to win this. World number one is something you have to do for two years so I think I deserved it.

"To be able to do this, I've not dreamed of it until this year."

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Anderson was gracious in defeat, with the 50-year-old declaring himself happy with his efforts over the past few weeks despite just falling short.

"Getting beat in the final is disappointing but getting to the final was a pat on the back for myself," he said.

"My doubles were atrocious and when you do that you get thumped. But what I've done over the last two weeks has been a big bonus for me."