Whether he beat or lost to Michael van Gerwen on the Alexandra Palace stage on Friday night, Luke Littler was always going to leave his second World Darts Championship as a winner. After all, he is the catalyst for and the face of the ongoing darts boom – all as a 17-year-old. As it happened, Littler rubber-stamped his status as a generational talent and completed his coronation as King of the Palace by taking his first world title in ruthlessly impressive fashion.
From a break of throw in the opening leg of the match, to a 11-darter when he smelt weakness in the second set, to a 4-0 lead that turned into a crushing 7-3 triumph thanks to a 102.73 average and a superb 56 per cent success rate on the doubles, Littler dismantled the three-time world champion. It was brutal, it was exhilarating to watch and raised questions about just how high the ceiling is for this unstoppable darting teenager.
“I know where I went wrong last year, I’m sure I’ll fix it,” Littler had matter-of-factly stated ahead of the final. And, boy, did he. Twelve months ago , as a 16-year-old, he led Luke Humphries 4-2 in the showpiece and missed a dart at double two to extend that advantage to 5-2.
Instead, Humphries snatched the seventh set and roared past his young opponent to triumph 7-4 and win a first world title of his own – teaching the teen a lesson about the fine margins in elite sport. That defeat did nothing to slow the rise of ‘Littler-mania’, as he went on to win 10 titles duri.
