Luke Littler became darts’ youngest world champion at just 17 after thrashing three-time winner Michael van Gerwen in front of an adoring home crowd at London’s Alexandra Palace on Friday.
Littler became a national phenomenon in England with his shock run to the final 12 months ago before being defeated by Luke Humphries.
This time there was no stopping “Luke the Nuke” as he stormed past Dutchman Van Gerwen by seven sets to three.
“I can’t believe it. Everyone dreams of lifting this trophy but you have to get through a tough field,” Littler told Sky Sports.
Littler, who posted a three-dart average of 102.7, stormed into a 4-0 lead.
And he showed no signs of nerves to close out the biggest win of his career and the £500,000 ($622,000) first prize in style.
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“At 2-0 up I started getting nervous but I said to myself ‘just relax’,” he added.
“I was throwing for the match but to get it over and done with was special.”
Littler’s success has inspired a boom for darts over the past 12 months.
His defeat to Humphries 12 months ago was the most-watched sports event, outside football, in broadcaster Sky Sports’ 34-year history with 4.8 million viewers.
Littler also came above British prime minister Keir Starmer and King Charles in Google’s most searched for people of 2024 in the UK.
“I sometimes say every 17 years a star gets born and he’s one of them,” said Van Gerwen, who had been the previous youngest winner when he lifted the title in 2014 aged 24.
“Every moment he got to hurt me, he did.”
Luke Littler living the dream
Littler has become world champion of darts, a sport that has its origins as a British pub game, before the English 17-year-old can legally buy an alcoholic drink in his homeland.
Yet, despite his tender age, Littler has had a long apprenticeship in the sport given, as shown by family videos, he first started playing darts when still a nappy-clad toddler.
This time last year he had surged through the field as a 66/1 outsider, becoming the undisputed fans’ favourite at Alexandra Palace in north London, before world number one Luke Humphries defeated him in the final.
But such was Littler’s impact as a breakout performer that even those not normally interested in darts were aware of his achievement in becoming darts’ youngest world finalist.
Suddenly, Littler found himself being invited onto television chat shows with Hollywood movie stars. It all led to the modest Humphries joking about how people who engaged in conversation with him discovering they were talking to the “wrong Luke”.
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Littler came above British prime minister Keir Starmer and King Charles in Google’s most searched for people of 2024 in the UK, behind only Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Donald Trump.
But the boy from Warrington, an industrial town between Liverpool and Manchester, is no longer a surprise package in an unforgiving test of accuracy where the distance between success and failure is measured in fractions of an inch.
To its supporters, darts is a game of fine motor-skills allied to mathematical knowledge, made all the harder at professional level by the players being cheered by on by raucous and often alcohol-fuelled crowds.
Players try to hit specific small targets while standing over seven feet (2.37 metres) from the board where the most valuable ‘treble’ sections are also the smallest.
The aim is to go from 501 to exactly zero in the fewest number of darts while finishing either on a double on the outer edge of the board or the central bullseye.
Each player takes turns to throw three darts, with the highest total possible 180 — three treble 20s.
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‘A lot to deal with’
Littler, nicknamed ‘Luke the Nuke’, admitted the occasion had got to him after he won his opening match of the 2024/25 World Championship against Ryan Meikle.
“It is probably the biggest time it’s hit me,” he said. “It has been a lot to deal with.”
Yet he still posted a tournament record three-dart average of 140.91 in the fourth set.
And come the semi-finals, Littler thrashed world number five Stephen Bunting 6-1 in sets.
A final against Michael van Gerwen was billed as a much tougher contest, with the Dutchman going into the game as the youngest world champion to date after winning the title as a 24-year-old in 2014.
Yet the three-time winner was blown away as Littler surged into a 4-0 lead and showed no nerves to close it out 7-3.
“I sometimes say every 17 years a star gets born and he’s one of them,” said Van Gerwen.
Littler’s fame isn’t simply built upon his undoubted skill.
In an age where many sportsmen become detached from the communities they have grown up, he remains a relatable figure, although nutritionists may be aghast at the pre-match routine he outlined a year ago.
“I don’t wake up until 12, in the morning go for my ham and cheese omelette, come here and have my pizza, and then go on the practice board,” said Littler, also known for celebrating his victories with a post-match kebab.
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