EXCLUSIVE: Sky Sports darts presenter Emma Paton once dreamed of Olympic glory before she changed her sights to a successful TV career which has seen her front the World Championship coverage
Sky Sports darts presenter dreamed of Olympic Glory before hitting the bullseye with her TV career.
Emma Paton was fully focused on becoming an Olympian before making it as a TV star. The popular Sky Sports presenter, who will front the network’s coverage of the World Darts Championship, was an accomplished athlete in her youth, competing at national level in the 400m.
Paton had hopes of going further in the sport and reaching the biggest stage of all – only for injuries to intervene – before she decided to focus on her media career.
“I fell short of my dreams but that’s okay,” she reflected ahead of the 2026 tournament. “I wanted to go to the Olympics to represent Great Britain.
“That was the aim, but I had years of injuries and it didn’t really happen for me. Then I started working at Sky.
“I had a full-time job working on the breakfast show on Sky Sports News, which meant a lot of early starts. I managed to fit training around that for a long time.
“But with injuries, I turned my attention to trying to make it on screen at Sky and I have ended up hosting darts. It could be a lot worse!”
During her promising young athlete days, Emma landed a cameo role in the 2012 film Fast Girls. The film is about a Team GB hopeful battling to achieve her dreams of becoming a world champion.
Emma played a Ukrainian relay runner and featured in the trailer alongside award-winning stars like Lily James and Neol Clarke.
Darts and athletics may differ in lots of different ways, but there are similarities and that means Paton can, to some degree, empathise with what the players are going through up on stage.
“It’s similar in the fact it’s an individual sport,” she says.
“You’re just out there on your own, which wasn’t always nice, hence why I don’t do it any more! But I’ve put myself on a start line, in that situation, although obviously not to the extent these players are playing at.
“That’s where it all started for me, my life was always rooted in sport.”