Those doubters wondered if Littler would ever fly so high again but they got their answer here when Littler, who has won more than £1m in prize money in the last 12 months and picked up another £500,000 for this triumph, held aloft the Sid Waddell Trophy.
Teenage sensation Luke Littler beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace to claim the 2025 PDC World Championship
Van Gerwen did his best to fight back and won two more sets but he could never get closer than within three sets of Littler, who closed it out nervelessly and cemented his place in the nation’s affections.
Littler burst into tears after landing a double 16 to win the World Championship on Friday night
Now, amid the mayhem of an Ally Pally night oblivious to the bitter cold outside, Littler went one better by humbling one of the best players ever to throw a dart and becoming, at 17, the youngest man ever to win the world title.
Even if the sport, and particularly this event, has a reputation for wild over-indulgence, Littler’s stardom is attracting more and more kids to darts. Littler does not drink, of course. He is not yet old enough to. Viewing figures, ticket sales and social media interest have all shot up.
The Van Gerwen and Littler rivalry may have only begun in early 2024, but watching the pair collide in top competition has become box office stuff over the course of the last 12 months
Genius in any sport is box office and Littler’s victory over Van Gerwen has lifted it to a point in the public consciousness where it has never been higher. ‘Wow, wow, wow,’ Littler muttered to himself in his moment of victory just before 10pm and the watching millions echoed his words.
Darts has evolved but not dramatically. At a time when there is a backlash in sport and other areas of society against political correctness, darts has profited by remaining the same. If society was once tempted to disdain it, it is now seen by many as a kind of sanctuary.
Van Gerwen missed three successive chances to take a two leg lead in the third set and Littler made him pay
Littler reacted to that reverse by throwing two 180s on his next two visits to the oche and even though Van Gerwen took the set to a deciding leg, Littler clinched it to move into a 5-1 lead.
He is already regarded as a national treasure. Observations about his weight, made on breakfast television earlier this week, caused outrage amidst his fans and prompted a debate about fat-shaming. Offering criticism of Littler, however modest, is a risky business.
The draw of Littler has accelerated and refined the idea that going to the darts is not just a sporting event but a cultural shift. It is a sport that has stayed true to itself and to the traditions of simpler times and whose popularity, because of that and Littler, is rocketing.
‘He’s a normal kid who loves darts and happens to be very good. You look at a 16 or 17-year-old who breaks through in Premier League football and they are immediately out of reach of the kid on the street. Luke’s not.”
Sometimes, you attend an event where you feel you are at the centre of the sporting universe and that all eyes are watching. You get it at the Olympics and the football World Cup, at a Champions League final, at The Masters, at the Super Bowl.
At Christmas, it was predicted that more than 100,000 children would be bought the Littler-branded magnetic dartboards that have been flying off the shelves. They were the equivalent of cabbage-patch dolls.
It began to feel as if Littler was toying with Van Gerwen. Left with 70 to clinch the first leg of the fourth set, Littler hit the bullseye and then, of course, double 10. Littler showed he was human by missing double 16 twice to hand Van Gerwen the third leg but then clinched the set with yet another double 10.
Van Gerwen finally got a score on the board by closing out the fifth set in style with a 132 checkout that finished with a bullseye. It felt then as if it would be little more than a gesture to salvage some dignity.
Littler, who was defeated by Luke Humphries in last year’s final, cruised through the opening four sets to rattle his opponent before ultimately winning 7-3
Last year, some were entitled to wonder whether Littler’s run to the final might be a fluke, a moment in time never to be repeated, an achievement akin, perhaps, to Emma Raducanu’s magnificent victory at the US Open in 2021.
Luke Littler captured the hearts of the nation last year when he came from nowhere as a 16-year-old 66-1 outsider to reach the final of the PDC World Darts Championship and announce himself as the greatest young talent the sport has ever seen.
