At the end of the second set of the World Darts Championship final, the biggest match in one of the world’s biggest indoor sports, Luke Littler calmly left the stage, gave his family a wry smile and accomplice and rubbed his hands. as if he had foresight of the blows he was about to inflict.
The man, no, the boy who 3,000 people packed into London’s Alexandra Palace to watch history be made, and who millions more watched at home and in pubs across the UK and in the world, did not just do it with impartial ease or with flamboyant style. , but with a disdainful taste.
Darts finals were won more handsomely – all-time great Phil Taylor inflicted three 7-0 shutouts in his prime – but not like this. Never like this.
Luke Littler is 17 years old. He has facial hair that men years his senior aspire to grow, and in a sport whose history is steeped in pubs, Littler is not yet capable of drinking alcohol in it.
And yet he already carries the bravado and stage persona of someone ready to take the sport down roads it’s never traveled before, and that’s exactly what he’s already doing.
Like Pelé and Serena Williams, Littler won one of sport’s biggest prizes while still a teenager (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Littler has already helped popularize darts in the UK, with viewing figures on Sky Sports, a subscription service, up almost 200% for some tournaments in 2024, following a record 4.8 million for last year’s final (the most watched final). non-football event in the broadcaster’s history), which Littler, then aged 16, lost to Luke Humphries.
Today, by becoming world champion, he has earned the right to enter the pantheon of young sporting legends. Sure, Pelé was good with a soccer ball at 17, but could he throw three triple 20s on a red, green and black board from nearly two and a half meters away?
Serena Williams won the US Open at 17, Ian Thorpe was the same age when he won Olympic pool gold, Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he made his India debut and snooker wizard Ronnie O’Sullivan was 17 when he won the UK Championship. What sets Littler apart in his particular field is that he became the world’s greatest current player in the entire sport before he became an adult.
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Why is it so good? Is it a natural talent? Well, he’s been playing darts since his dad bought him a magnetic dartboard from the pound when he was 18 months old. He’s not old enough to vote, but he’s been practicing for most of his short life.
And it’s not just youthful exuberance and freshness, either. Littler was mentally scarred after losing last year’s final despite a 4-2 lead (he watched it just hours before Friday’s game to recap what went wrong), but he was relentless and ruthless in their pursuit of victory here in north London, bulldozing into a 4-0 lead against one of the greatest players to ever throw an arrow, three-time champion Michael van Gerwen.
The youngster later said he felt nervous after taking that early lead, but his actions in eliminating one of the world’s best players suggested just the opposite.
He relentlessly pounded the triple bed like he was using a dart-sized jackhammer, carving tiny, perfect holes into the helpless board as he carved his journey to greatness.
With the hands of a sports entertainer, Littler smiled and waved to the crowd, speaking to them and himself throughout, in complete control of his own destiny.
Littler surpassed Van Gerwen’s record as the youngest world darts champion in history (James Fearn/Getty Images)
He didn’t just try to win, he tried to produce Darts of the Gods while he was at it. He continued to settle for 170, the biggest dart shot to win a stage, which happened too frequently to not be deliberate. Darts players usually look pained when they miss a nine dart (i.e. darts perfection to win a stage with the fewest number of throws possible), but Littler just shrugged nonchalantly when he missed the seventh dart, as if he knew he would have another chance.
Helpless Van Gerwen, winner of 157 PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) titles, could only frown and grimace like Vile dick in a lime green shirt.
The Dutchman was once the youngest world champion, at the age of 24. The symbolism of a heavy, dart-shaped stick passed down to the next generation was compelling here.
Van Gerwen rallied, as champions do, holding on to Littler’s tails as they traded the next six sets, but it was never going to be enough in front of a delirious partisan crowd, drunk on alcohol and throws. He can look like a combination of Bond villains, part Blofeld with his shiny bald head, part Jaws with a grill on his chops, but he could only play the bad guy for so long against a wave of- tide of treble and tons.
Littler was just too good. Every time Van Gerwen came up for air, the teenager pushed him underwater with one hand and hit the double 10 with the other.
“Wow…wow,” Littler said to himself as he reached double 16 to win 7-3, confirm the title and become £500,000 ($621,056 at current conversion rates) richer. He muttered “I can’t believe it” three times during his post-match interview.
“At 2-0 I started to get nervous, but I told myself: ‘Relax’.
“That first match against Ryan Meikle, that’s the match that really mattered.”
Littler cried on stage after that second-round victory over Meikle before Christmas. He broke down, couldn’t finish an interview, left the stage and went to give his mother a hug.
On the train journey to London earlier in the day, he couldn’t wait for the match to start, but when he threw his first dart, he bottled it, paraphrasing his own words.
“I’ve never felt anything like this,” he said later after composing himself. “It was a strange feeling… it’s the biggest stage in the world. It was probably the hardest match I played.
To prove his supernatural nature, he had somehow produced the greatest game of darts ever seen in the history of the world championships at the end of this “most difficult” match, averaging over 140, but yeah , he had started it as a glorified pub. player to his own incredibly high standards.
“I’m like, ‘What are you doing? Relax,” Littler said.
Littler during his departure for the final against Michael van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace (James Fearn/Getty Images)
It’s no wonder, with the enormous pressure on his young shoulders of being favorite to win the title at just 17, a normal kid from Runcorn, a small town near Liverpool in the northwest of England, who eats kebabs and loves football. .
Subsequently, for most of the tournament, he was imperious, mirroring the form that saw him rise from 164th to fourth in the world rankings last year.
Despite the unimaginable increase in money, fame, popularity and exposure, the 1.5 million Instagram followers, the endless TV appearances and mixing with Max Verstappen or his Manchester heroes United, he remained focused, winning 10 PDC titles, the Premier LeagueGrand Slam and World Series finals, as well as hitting four perfect nine darts along the way and winning more than £1 million ($1.2 million) in prize money.
He was Google’s most searched athlete of the year and a finalist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
“Littler has captivated people because he is approachable,” said Sky Sports darts presenter Emma Paton. Athletics earlier in the tournament. “He took the sport to different places…Darts has never had such visibility before. It’s not even because of what he did in the sport, which is ridiculous by the way, but it’s the impact he had on the sport.
“Compared to many other sports people, darts players are refreshingly honest and fundamentally themselves and Luke is no different. He’s just a kid at the end of the day.
“People have asked me, ‘What’s it like talking to Luke Littler?’ It doesn’t seem like he has much to say. I’m like, “He’s just really relaxed, he doesn’t really care, he’s just a 17-year-old kid.”
Darts-obsessed Littler plays exactly like that, like a kid having fun on stage, checking off his own personal list of darts dreams.
He has an uncanny ability to completely detach himself from the enormity of the event, chatting with the crowd, ignoring his opponent and simply playing his own game, the old sports cliché.
He loves to show off the skills he has honed over years of practice, expanding the possibilities and limitations we thought the sport had before. He tries irregular configuration shots, he achieves double-doubles or two bullseyes. It essentially brings coaching advice to the world stage.
And then, when he needs it, a glint of steely determination emanates from his eyes and a merciless 180 ensues. He can turn it on like few people in this sport have ever done before.
An emotional Littler reacts after winning the PDC World Championship (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
“I sometimes say that every 17 years a star is born,” said a humble Van Gerwen. “He’s one of them… Every chance he got, every moment he had to hurt me, he did.”
World champion, famous, millionaire. What next, aside from impending adulthood?
“I just want to add to it, maybe get a few more,” Littler said. “If I want the 16th (Taylor’s world title record), then I’m sure I could achieve it.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 18 months old on a magnetic board with a diaper.
“When I told my friends I had a darts competition, they were like, “Darts?!” “Yeah, darts, haven’t you seen that?” »
They all see it now, thanks to an unassuming 17-year-old boy who can shoot arrows like few people have ever done before.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)