At the end of the second set of the finals of the World Darts Championship, one of the world's biggest indoor sports, Luke Littler calmly walked off stage, gave his family a wry smile and rubbed his hands together. It was as if he had foreseen the assault that was about to occur.
With 3,000 people crammed into London's Alexandra Palace to watch the history of agricultural products, and millions more watching in their homes and pubs around the UK and around the world, this man, or rather, the boy, was simply chilling. He didn't do it casually or with flashy style. , but with a disdainful taste.
There have been better darts finals – Phil Taylor, the all-time great, whitewashed the game 7-0 in three innings in his prime – but nothing like this one. This will never happen.
Luke Littler is 17 years old. It's a beard that men years older have wanted to grow, but in a sport whose history is rooted in pubs, Littler still can't drink alcohol in pubs.
Still, he already has the bravado and stage persona of someone ready to take the sport down a path it has never been before, and that's exactly what he's already doing.
Like Pele and Serena Williams, Littler won one of sports' biggest awards while still a teenager. (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Littler has already helped push darts further into the mainstream in the UK, with a record 4.8 million viewers for last year's final (the most watched tournament) on subscription service Sky Sports. numbers, followed by an almost 200 percent increase in some tournaments in 2024. In this match, then 16-year-old Littler lost to Luke Humphries.
Now, by becoming world champion, he has earned the right to join the pantheon of young sports legends. Sure, Pele was good at soccer at age 17, but could he throw three treble 20s at a red, green, and black board about six feet away?
Serena Williams was 17 when she won the US Open, Ian Thorpe was the same age when he won Olympic gold in pool, Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he made his Indian debut, and snooker wizard Ronnie O'Sullivan was the same age when he won the US Open. He was 17 years old when he won the British Championship. What makes Littler stand out in his particular field is that he became the best player in the world today in his entire sport before he was even an adult.
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Why is he so good? Is it a natural talent? He has been playing darts since his father bought him a magnetic dartboard at a pound shop when he was 18 months old. He's not old enough to vote, but he's basically been practicing for this moment almost his entire short life.
And it's not just about youthful exuberance and freshness. Littler was mentally scarred from losing 4-2 in last year's finals (he rewatched the game a few hours before Friday's game to reflect on what went wrong). But they bulldozed relentlessly and relentlessly in their quest for victory here in north London. He led 4-0 against one of the greatest players of all time, three-time champion Michael van Gerwen.
The youngster later said he was nervous after taking an early lead, but his actions in obliterating one of the best players in the world suggested quite the opposite.
He hammered the treble bed relentlessly like a dart-sized jackhammer, carving out a path to greatness as he punched perfect little holes in the helpless board.
Throwing like a sports artist, Littler smiled and waved at the crowd, talking to them and to himself throughout, and was in complete control of his own destiny.
Littler breaks Van Gerwen's record for youngest darts world champion (James Fearn/Getty Images)
He didn't just try to win, he also tried to create darts from God. He continued to put himself at 170, the maximum outshot in darts to win the leg, but this happened more often than not on purpose. Darts players usually look pained when they miss nine darts (i.e. dart perfection – winning the leg in the fewest number of throws possible), but Littler missed his seventh dart. , just shrugged his shoulders casually, as if he knew he'd get another chance. .
The helpless Van Gerwen, who won 157 PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) titles, could only grimace and grimace like Dick Dastardly in a lime green shirt.
The Dutchman was once the youngest world champion at 24 years old. The symbolism of the heavy dart-shaped baton being passed on to the next generation was irresistible.
Van Gerwen rallied, clinging to Littler's coat as they exchanged the next six sets, as champions do, but it was never enough in front of an enthusiastic partisan crowd of drunken pitchers. . He might look like a combination of Bond villains. Blofeld with his shiny bald head and Jaws with his grill all over his chops. However, he could only play the role of a villain for a long time against the waves of high-pitched sounds and tons of high-pitched sounds.
Littler was too good. Every time Van Gerwen rose into the air, the teenager pushed him back into the water with one hand and hit a double 10 with the other.
“Wow…that's amazing,” Littler said to himself, gushing as he hit a double 16 to win 7-3, seal the title and become £500,000 richer ($621,056 at current exchange rates). Said. In an interview immediately after the game, he tweeted “I can't believe it” three times.
“When we were up 2-0, I started to get nervous, but I told myself, 'Relax.'
“My first match against Ryan Meikle was a really important match.”
Littler cried on stage after his second-round victory over Meikle before Christmas. He broke down in tears and was unable to finish the interview, leaving the stage and going to hug his mother.
On the train to London earlier that day, he couldn't wait for the match to start, but when he threw his first dart, he basically threw it in the bottle, to paraphrase his own words. .
“I've never felt anything like this,” he later said after composing the song himself. “It was a strange feeling…This is the biggest stage. It was probably the toughest game I've ever played.”
To prove his out-of-this-world nature, he somehow produced the best set of darts ever seen in the history of the World Championship at the end of that “toughest” match, finishing with an average Over 140, but yes, he started it like a glorious pub player based on his own incredibly high standards.
“I'm thinking to myself, 'What are you doing? Just relax,'” Littler said.
Littler being sent off during the final against Michael van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace (James Fearn/Getty Images)
An ordinary kid from Runcorn, a small town near Liverpool in the north-west of England, a kebab-eating, football-loving boy who, at just 17 years old, is the favorite to lift the title, the pressure is on his young shoulders. is not surprising. .
He then put in a commanding display throughout most of the tournament, reflecting the form that saw him rise from 164th place in the world rankings last year to 4th place.
Despite unimaginable money, fame, popularity, increased exposure, 1.5 million Instagram followers, endless TV appearances and playing alongside Max Verstappen and his heroes at Manchester United, He remained focused and won 10 PDC titles, a Premier League and a Grande. He played in Slam and World Series finals, hitting four perfect nine-darters along the way and winning more than £1 million ($1.2 million).
He was the most searched athlete on Google that year and came second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.
Sky Sports darts presenter Emma Payton said: “Littler attracts people because he's approachable.” The Athletic early in the tournament. “He's taken this sport to different places…Darts has never had this kind of exposure before. It's not because of anything he's done in this sport, by the way it's… It was ridiculous, but that's the impact he had on the sport.
“Compared to many other sportspeople, darts players are refreshingly honest and fundamentally who they are and Luke is no different. At the end of the day, he's just a kid.
“People have asked me, 'What's it like to talk to Luke Littler?' It doesn't seem like he has a lot to say.” I'm just a 17-year-old kid who hasn't done anything.'' ”
Darts-obsessed Littler plays just that, fulfilling his personal bucket list of darts dreams like a kid having fun on stage.
He has an uncanny ability to completely detach himself from the enormity of the event, chat with the crowd, ignore his opponents and just play his own game, an old sports cliché.
He enjoys showcasing the skills he has honed over years of practice, pushing the boundaries and possibilities of the sport even further. He attempts unusual setup shots and hits double-doubles and bullseyes twice. He's essentially taking his practice board to the world stage.
And when needed, a steely glint of determination emanates from his eyes, followed by the relentless rhythm of the 180s. He can turn it on like few people have ever seen in this sport.
Littler emotional after winning the PDC World Championship (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
“I sometimes say that every 17 years a star is born,” van Gerwen said humbly. “He's one of them too…Every chance he had, every moment he had to hurt me, he did it.”
World champions, celebrities, billionaires. Besides impending adulthood, what on earth happens next?
“I just want to add to it, maybe get some more,” Littler said. “If I want 16 (Taylor's world title record), I'm sure I can probably get it.
“I have been doing this on a magnetic board in diapers since I was 18 months old.
“If you tell your friends there's going to be a darts tournament, they'll say, 'Darts?!'” “Oh, haven't you ever seen darts?”
Now everyone is seeing it, thanks to an unassuming 17-year-old kid who can throw arrows like no one has ever seen before.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
