Luke Littler pulled the gigantic one Sid-Waddell-Trophy through the Ally Pally like a toddler gets his best Christmas present. Proud and overwhelmed, the youngest World Cup champion in darts history first had to sort out his feelings. Then Littler made an announcement in London that was likely to scare the competition, which had already largely had no chance at this World Cup. “Maybe I’ll win a few more world championships. If I want 16, I’m sure I can possibly reach that mark,” said the 17-year-old after the historic darts day, which, in addition to the winner’s trophy, also brought him prize money of around 600,000 euros. 16 times world champion, that is still the utopian mark of legend today Phil Taylorwho dominated the sport for decades.
But when Taylor became world champion for the first time, he was already 29. And Littler, who is already one of the best-known British sports stars, plays as a minor at a level that Taylor or final losers do Michael van Gerwen played at their very best. “What a fantastic performance, huge congratulations,” Taylor wrote over van Gerwen after Littler’s dominant 7-3 final win.
“Every 17 years a new star in darts”
The defeated Dutchman admitted on stage: “I always take my hat off to people who beat me in a great game.” He has the impression that the sport of darts gets a new star every 17 years.
The star 17 years ago, for van Gerwen, was himself. The star of today, for all Littlers, is the one who takes the sport to a new level and increases interest to huge levels. Even England’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated X a few minutes after the last arrow was thrown.
Even before his coronation, Littler was the most searched athlete on the British Isles on Google in 2024 – among other things Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Only the US President-elect Donald Trump and Princess Kate were typed into the search engine more often than the darts youngster. The hype surrounding Littler will hardly diminish in the next few days. These are the last few weeks before Littler turns 18 on January 21st.