Lenny Schlueter (Photo PDC)
Lenny Schlueter broke new ground to claim his first Development Tour title at Event 20 on Sunday, coming back from 4-2 down to defeat Henry Coates 5-4 in a dramatic final in Hildesheim.
This year’s fourth weekend of Development Tour action concluded at Halle 39 in style, with Schlueter surging to glory after downing Players Championship 25 winner Coates.
The 18-year-old trailed Coates 4-2 before rallying a comeback, surviving two match darts in the eighth leg before winning three on the spin to snatch the title in Hildesheim.
Schlueter – who had made three quarter-finals in 2026 before today – scooped the £3,000 top prize after winning eight consecutive matches, which was kicked off with 4-2 victories over Patrick McShane and Merlin Nicolaus.
The young German then emerged the victor of a last-leg decider against Alfie Hutton, before seeing off Challenge Tour Event 10 winner Nathan Potter 4-2 and yesterday’s Event 19 victor Yorick Hofkens with impressive 4-2 wins to reach the quarter-finals.
Schlueter then recorded dominant 5-1 triumphs over Angelo Vroomen and Mylo Michiels to set up a finale against Coates, where he defied a six-point superior average from his opponent to break new ground on home soil.
Coates, meanwhile, fell agonisingly short of adding a second Development Tour career title to a historic week, where the Englishman became just the fifth non-Tour Card Holder to win a PDC ranking title with his Players Championship 25 triumph on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old dispatched the highest-ranked competitor Jack Drayton 4-1 en route to reaching the final, also surviving three last-leg shootouts across his eight victories.
Sebastian Bialecki comfortably occupies top spot in the Development Tour rankings despite now sitting inside the world’s top 64 players, with Drayton and Cam Crabtree completing the top three.
Leon Weber sits in fourth and Jurjen van der Velde ranks in fifth, with less than £2,000 between the Dutchman and Drayton in second.
The Winmau Development Tour will return with the final four events in Wigan from October 3-4, as the race to seal a spot at the 2026/27 Paddy Power World Darts Championship will reach its climax.
RESULTS
Event 18
Quarter-Finals
Sean McKeon 5-3 Martin Homola
Henry Coates 5-3 Dylan Slevin
Mylo Michiels 5-1 Kaya Baysal
Lenny Schlueter 5-1 Angelo Vroomen
Semi-Finals
Henry Coates 5-4 Sean McKeon
Lenny Schlueter 5-1 Mylo Michiels
Final
Lenny Schlueter 5-4 Henry Coates
