The new world champion: Luke Littler © APA/afp / BEN STANSALL

Fists and tears: Littler is world champion

Luke Littler showed both fists, then the acclaimed darts teenager immediately burst into tears. The 17-year-old Englishman stormed to his first world title with a show of power and crowned himself the youngest title holder in world championship history at Ally Pally before he even came of age.

03 January 2025

From: dpa

In an unexpectedly one-sided World Cup final, the Englishman dominated the final in London against former champion Michael van Gerwen and clearly defeated the Dutchman 7:3. Shortly before 22 p.m. local time, Littler passionately raised the 23 kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy - confetti shot from the hall ceiling. His rise to world champion is a modern sports fairytale. "I can't believe it, to be honest. I've always dreamed of winning this trophy one day," said the completely overwhelmed title holder.

The fans were already singing Littler's entrance music during the winner's interview. Van Gerwen, who was beaten once again, honestly admitted: "Big compliment to Luke. Every 17 years a new star is born. Luke Littler is one of them."

0:4 after about 30 minutes

Littler showed no signs of nervousness in his second World Championship final and celebrated the biggest and most significant success of his young career just three weeks before his 18th birthday. The celebrated youngster played like a machine, especially on the double 10. Van Gerwen got off to a weak start and was already 0:4 behind after half an hour. There was no sensational comeback. After that, it was high-class, but no longer really exciting.

Michael van Gerwen had no chance. © APA/afp / BEN STANSALL

The new world champion and successor to Luke Humphries will receive prize money equivalent to around 600.000 euros and the coveted trophy. Exactly one year ago to the day, Littler played his first World Cup final at the age of 16 and lost 4:2 to Primus Humphries despite leading 4:7. After this World Cup, Littler is number two in the world rankings behind Humphries.

Littler replaced his opponent van Gerwen as the youngest world champion in history and crowned a brilliant season in which he rose to become one of the biggest and most prominent sports stars in Great Britain. Littler quickly shed the nickname of "Prince of the Palace".

Van Gerwen's mistakes are brutally punished

In the notorious Ally Pally, the young Englishman is now the king of the darts throwers after his second participation. Much to the delight of the 3500 fans who booed van Gerwen as he came onto the field - and loudly celebrated and sang about their favorite Littler's great performance for the entire duration of the match.

"It's going to be damn good," Littler predicted after a clear 6:1 win against Stephen Bunting in the semi-final. In fact, the local hero was the only professional whose performance on the final evening was damn good. Littler played with a cool head and made very few mistakes. Van Gerwen's mistakes on the doubles, on the other hand, were brutally punished again and again. Van Gerwen did get better from the middle of the match, but real successes were rare.

On cloud nine: Luke Littler © APA/afp / BEN STANSALL

Before the match, the 35-year-old Dutchman boasted that he had "balls of steel". But there was little evidence of that on the world's biggest stage. For van Gerwen, it was already the fourth defeat in a World Cup final.

The titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019 are now a long time ago. Since then, five other players have won the coveted trophy: Gerwyn Price (Wales), Peter Wright (Scotland), Michael Smith (England), Humphries and Littler. And on Friday there was little to suggest that van Gerwen would be able to reclaim the darts throne at Ally Pally particularly quickly.