| Darren Burnett | |
| Full Name: | Darren William Burnett |
| Birth Date: | 27 May 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Arbroath, Scotland |
| Sport: | Lawn bowls |
| Club: | Arbroath & District (indoor) Arbroath BC (outdoors) |
Darren William Burnett (born 27 May 1976 in Arbroath) is a Scottish lawn bowler and indoor bowler.[1]
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he won a gold medal in men's singles after defeating Canada's Ryan Bester.[2] In 2018 he was selected as part of the Scottish team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Queensland[3] where he claimed another gold medal in the Triples with Ronnie Duncan and Derek Oliver.[4]
In 2022, he competed in the men's triples and the men's fours at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[5]
He has won four medals at the World Bowls Championship. The first came during the 2008 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch when he won a silver medal and then four years later won a gold and bronze during the 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in the pairs and triples. The fourth medal was in the singles at the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch.[6] In 2020 he was selected for the 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Australia.[7]
He has a good record indoors and was the singles world champion in 2014. Burnett enjoyed a very successful 2016 World Indoor Bowls Championship after securing both the Open Pairs title with Stewart Anderson[8] and the Mixed Pairs title with Katherine Rednall.[9] Burnett claimed a fourth title when winning the open pairs for the second time with Stewart Anderson in 2022.[10] He won an all-Scottish final in the open pairs in 2024, partnering Stewart Anderson again.[11]
Burnett holds the Scottish National Men's Singles Championship record equally with Robert Sprot, David Dall and Joseph Black, with three titles which he won in 1999, 2002, 2005.[12] [13] He subsequently won the singles at the British Isles Bowls Championships in 2003 and 2006.[14]
Other major wins include winning the World Singles Champion of Champions in 2006,[15] the 1991 & 2001 Scottish International Open, the 2008 International Open, the 2010 Welsh International Open.[16]
In June 2023, he announced his retirement from international competitions.
He works as a policeman in Arbroath, Scotland and is married with two children.[17]