Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Noa-Lynn van Leuven (born 27 September 1996) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. She was the first openly transgender person to compete in a televised darts tournament and the first to play at the PDC World Darts Championship, making her debut at the 2025 event. Van Leuven has won six titles on the PDC Women's Series, as well as a title on the 2024 PDC Challenge Tour.

She previously competed in World Darts Federation (WDF) events, and was a two-time Dutch Open semi-finalist. She competed on the PDC Women's Series and WDF women's tournaments until 2026, when both organisations barred trans women from competing in women's events.

Early life Van Leuven began considering transitioning around the age of 16. She told the PA news agency that she had suffered depression beforehand, and that she "wouldn't be here" if not for her transition. Van Leuven had played darts for nine years before her transition, though she stopped for several years. She works as a chef de partie.

Career 2022 Having passed stringent transitioning tests to play in women's darts,

Van Leuven reached the quarter-finals of both events 13 and 14 of the Women's Series, losing to Beau Greaves 4–2 and Laura Turner 4–3 respectively.

2023 At the 2023 Dutch Open, van Leuven entered the event as the 15th seed and reached the semi-finals. In the last 64 she whitewashed Jacqueline Geel 3–0 then defeated Evelien van Tol 4–1 in the last 32 before winning against Deta Hedman and Lorraine Hyde 4–3 in deciding legs. Van Leuven was whitewashed by eventual winner Aileen de Graaf 4–0 in the semi-finals.

Van Leuven played at the 2023 PDC Women's Series. She qualified for the 2023 Women's World Matchplay by finishing 8th in the Women's Matchplay Race. She did this by reaching the final of event twelve of the Women's series, where she was whitewashed 5–0 by Beau Greaves, to leapfrog 2022 Women's World Matchplay semi-finalist Lorraine Winstanley.

She played against Beau Greaves in the first round of the Women's World Matchplay, becoming the first trans woman to play in a televised PDC tournament. She was whitewashed 4–0 by Greaves.

2024 Van Leuven entered the 2024 Dutch Open as the 4th seed and reached the semi-finals again. She whitewashed Jaleesa Zegel 3–0, then defeated Kelly Streef, Tori Kewish and Kirsty Hutchinson each 4–1. Van Leuven lost in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, women's number one Beau Greaves.

Van Leuven played at the 2024 PDC Challenge Tour series, winning on her debut at event six.

Van Leuven played at the 2024 PDC Women's Series. She reached the quarter-finals at the first event, losing there to reigning WDF Women's World Champion Beau Greaves 5–2. At the second event, van Leuven won a Women's series tournament for the first time. She whitewashed Roos Van der Velde, Anca Zijlstra and Hannah Meek each 4–0 in legs. Van Leuven then defeated Marie Fitton 4–2 in the last 16. Van Leuven achieved 5–3 victories over Beau Greaves and Fallon Sherrock in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively before she triumphed over Katie Sheldon 5–2 in the final. This victory meant van Leuven had won both a women's tournament and a mixed gender tournament in the same week.

At event four van Leuven defeated Casey Gallagher 4–1 and then whitewashed Angela Kirkwood and Carly Townsend 4–0 before losing 4–1 to Fallon Sherrock.

Van Leuven won Women's Series 21, defeating women's number one Beau Greaves 5–3 in the final, setting the record Women's Series average with 109.64. This result qualified her for the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, making her the first trans woman to appear at the Alexandra Palace. She also became the first trans woman to play at the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts having finished second on the 2024 PDC Women's Series Order of Merit. However, she was eliminated in the group stages.

2025 At the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, she lost 3–1 in sets to Kevin Doets.

After failing to gain a PDC Tour Card at the European Qualifying School, van Leuven took a break from the sport for mental health reasons. She returned for the 2025 PDC Women's Series.

After a slow start into the season, van Leuven won back-to-back Women's Series titles in Rosmalen on 12 April. She whitewashed Stefanie Lück 5–0 in the final of event 9 and defeated Rhian O'Sullivan 5–1 in the final of event 10.

Controversy over participation Controversy has arisen around Van Leuven's participation in women's darts events as a trans woman, as well as qualifying for televised mixed-gender events through the PDC Women's Series. Former Dutch national team teammates Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf resigned in protest at her inclusion; Van Leuven stated that comments they made about her were "incredibly painful". In a 2025 interview with Algemeen Dagblad, De Graaf highlighted her performance levels dropping while experiencing menstruation and believed it was unfair that trans women do not go through the same struggles. Deta Hedman – who has previously refused to play Van Leuven at World Darts Federation (WDF) events – has been outspoken in her opposition, citing the potential biological advantages transitioned players may have over biological female competitors.

Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) chief executive Matt Porter defended the organisation's policy on transgender players as "fair", in response to Van Leuven's participation in televised PDC events. Van Leuven received support from world champions Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen in 2024 and 2025.

World Championship results PDC 2025: First round (lost to Kevin Doets 1–3) 2026: First round (lost to Peter Wright 0–3)

Performance timeline Noa-Lynn van Leuven's performance timeline is as follows:

PDC Women's Series