| Alan Warriner-Little | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | The Iceman |
| Born | 24 March 1962 Lancaster, Lancashire, England |
| Home town | Crosby, Cumbria England |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1985 |
| Darts | 22g Datadart |
| Laterality | right-handed |
| Walk-on music | Cold as Ice (1977) - Foreigner |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1985 to 1993 |
| PDC | since 1993 |
| Current world ranking | 115 (as of 5 January 2010) |
| BDO majors - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Runner-up 1993 |
| World Masters | Runner-up 1998 |
| PDC premier events - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Semi-finalist 1999, 2003 |
| World Matchplay | Runner-up 1997, 2000 |
| World Grand Prix | Winner 2001 |
| Desert Classic | QF 2003 |
| UK Open | QF 2004 |
| US Open/WSoD | Last 32 2007 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| Atlantic City Open Belgium Open |
1996 |
| Other achievements | |
| PDC World Number 1 (Jan 1993 to Nov 1994), (Feb 1997 to Aug 1998), (Oct 2001 to Jan 2002), (Jan 2002 to May 2002) | |
| Updated on 11 February 2008. | |
Alan Warriner-Little (born 24 March 1962 in Lancaster, Lancashire) is an English professional darts player. He currently lives in Crosby, Cumbria and plays with the nickname The Iceman.[1] He is a former World Grand Prix champion, and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship.
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Alan's first television appearance came on the game show Bullseye as one of the contestants. He would later appear six times as a darts player throwing for charity. He progressed through the British Darts Organisation's (BDO) superleague and county system and went on to win his first major tournament, the 1986 Isle of Man Open. He won several open tournaments, including the 1990 British Open as he climbed the world rankings.
He made his World Championship debut in 1989, losing a second round match to Jocky Wilson. He reached the quarter-finals in 1991 and 1992, before reaching his first World Final in 1993 - but he lost 3-6 to John Lowe. This form took him to the top of the world rankings.
He joined the top players in the game when they separated from the BDO after that 1993 final - they formed the World Darts Council (WDC, now Professional Darts Corporation PDC) and started their own World Championship. Despite this, he still competed in a number of BDO events, and reached the final of the 1998 Winmau World Masters, losing to Les Wallace.
He was the first world number one in the PDC rankings between January 1993 and November 1994, and also regained the position twice (February 1997 to August 1998 and October 2001 to May 2002).
He has a consistent record in the PDC World Championship - reaching the quarter-finals seven times (1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006) and the semi-finals twice (1999 and 2003), but the world crown has still eluded him.
His one major championship in the PDC came in the 2001 World Grand Prix, an event he also reached the final in 2004. He added this to the now discontinued UK Matchplay in 1995. He has twice been a runner-up in the World Matchplay, in 1997 and again in 2000. He lost in the final to Phil Taylor on both occasions.
He lost 5-1 to Mark Lawrence in the first round of the qualifying tournament for the 2009 PDC World Championship, meaning that he did not play the tournament for the first time in its 16-year history.
After a self imposed sabbatical of about three years where he has played less than five tournaments on the PDC Pro Tour since his 4-1 defeat to Peter Manley in the 2008 World Championship which ironically was the last major tournament he played in with his last tournament on the tour being the 2010 Australian Open. Alan confirmed in an interview in late 2011 that he would be making a return to professional darts in 2012 to take part in the PDC Qualifying School in January.
Following the 2006 World Matchplay, Warriner-Little took the decision to turn full-time professional, giving up his previous full-time career as a male nurse.
He married Brenda Little in the summer of 2005[2] and added her name to his.
He was an analyst and commentator for ITV Sport's darts coverage, along with Chris Mason.