Luke Littler: PDC World Championship final and immortality beckon for teenager
2025-01-03
Category: sports

In one home video clip, the boy throwing the darts is wearing a nappy.In another, a highchair leans against the wall as he slams them home.In a third, at an age where most children can barely conceive of double digits, the toddler wanders to the camera and gleefully shouts "one hundred and eighty".The height of the board changes, the oche edges back, magnet tips switch to tungsten, but the easy action of Luke Littler, which will grace tonight's World Championship final, is a constant.In football, 'Project Mbappe' has been used to describe the perfect storm conditions that propelled football star Kylian Mbappe from the Paris suburbs to the brink of greatness while he was still a teenager.Littler is the first prodigy whose total arrows immersion has been documented in real time. His steps have followed a pre-plotted route to the Alexandra Palace stage since he first started walking.
Last year, aged just 16, he arrived.He came into the World Championships as a 66-1 debutant, carved his way through the draw, accumulating followers, raising decibels and spilling out into the mainstream.It took the world number one - Luke Humphries â to halt the hype train, beating Littler in the final at the cavernous north London venue.But it was Littler on the chat show sofas alongside Hollywood stars, Littler on the front of kids' darts sets under the Christmas tree, Littler streaking through the earth's upper atmosphere as part of a gaming console advert.Online, he was searched for more than the King or the Prime Minister.On television, last year's PDC final was the most-watched sports event, outside football, in Sky Sports' 34-year history., externalHumphries, who won it, has joked about people discovering mid-conversation with him that they are talking to the "wrong Luke".For Littler things have kept going right.A boy born to the board, he has been relentless and ruthless, somehow finding the calm at the centre of the storm around him.His game continued down those familiar childhood grooves, undisturbed by the commotion and celebrity.The backdrop may be a fancy-dress cast of thousands, but Littler kept chucking as easy as the kid back in his Warrington living room.A fortnight after his final defeat, he claimed his first televised nine-dart finish. He took revenge on Humphries in the Premier League Darts final in May. In total, he won 10 titles in 2024, rising to fourth in the world.However, this visit to Ally Pally has been different.
Perhaps it is the circularity of it.Twelve months ago, he was an unknown. This time, the attention is immediate, and the pressure is inescapable. Now, the upsets are his to suffer, rather than to inflict. He is approaching the ceiling, bumping up against the biggest names, battling for the biggest prize, as an equal rather than a newcomer.So soon into his career, he is entering a new era. And the air is different up here."I have never felt anything like that," he said after winning the opening match of his campaign against Ryan Meikle.Admitting to nerves during the match, he said: "It is probably the biggest time it's hit me. Coming into it I was fine, but as soon as [referee] George Noble said 'game on', I couldn't throw them."It has been a lot to deal with."It was, Littler said, "the worst game I have played". That he clocked a tournament record three-dart average of 140.91 in an electrifying, 31-dart, three-leg, fourth set during it shows his sky-high standards.Still, Littler, choking up, had to cut short his on-stage interview, seeking out his family for a hug.
'The Nuke' wasn't in meltdown, but neither was he at his best.His check-out accuracy was off. Doubles were elusive. He wobbled in the last 16, edging past unseeded Ryan Joyce 4-3.But, when it has mattered, Littler plucked precision from the quiver.Worryingly for the opposition, he has started to find his happy place too."I'll be honest, no nerves," he said after his quarter-final victory, a 5-2 walloping of Nathan Aspinall."I'm playing with absolute confidence, with freedom."Stephen Bunting was barely a semi-final speedbump for Littler's steamrolling momentum. He averaged 105.48, his highest of this year's competition, in a 6-1 thrashing of the world number five.Now, Michael van Gerwen stands between Littler and dart's biggest prize, complete with a Â£500,000 pay day.The Dutchman is the youngest PDC world champion to date, having won the title as a 24-year-old in 2014.That period was defined by the Van Gerwen's titanic, torch-passing tussles with Phil Taylor, a rivalry that super-charged darts' rise and saw him claim three world titles.Littler is the beneficiary, but has added another story to the edifice.He is already, by some distance, the best-known darts player in the world. Will he now be the best player?