The unstoppable Luke Littler stormed to successfully defend his title at the Darts World Cup with a show of force.
The 18-year-old teenage sensation from England gave challenger Gian van Veen, who was five years her senior, no chance at 7-1 after sets in the one-sided final for the powerful Sid Waddell Trophy and the record prize money of one million pounds at London’s Alexandra Palace.
“It feels great,” Littler cheered in an interview with “Sky Sports” and added, based on a saying by boxing star Anthony Joshua: “The first time was so nice that I had to do it twice.” The prize money, he also emphasized, was “absolutely life-changing.”
106.02 points on average
Littler swept past the European champions from the Netherlands in the “youngest” final in history, won seven sets in a row, averaged 106.02 points, the fifth highest ever in a World Cup final, and threw 16 180s. Van Veen struggled in vain against the Power Littlers; an average of 99.94 points was not enough, also because the final debutant showed nerves in the important moments.
After legend Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson, Littler is only the fourth player to successfully defend the world title and also the youngest to do so. Last year, “The Nuke” became the youngest world champion at the age of 17. By winning the million-dollar jackpot, Littler will lead the world rankings for a long time.
Littler basically plowed through the tournament. Only former world champion Rob Cross presented the boy wonder with slight problems in the round of 16. In the semi-finals, the top favorite made short work of compatriot Ryan Searle with a 6-1 win and made it to the final for the third time in a row.
Before Littler, only Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Anderson managed that. His second World Cup triumph is also Littler’s tenth major title.
Double darts farewell
Even before the first dart it was time to say goodbye. For Referee George Noble and Master of Ceremonies John McDonald, the final was the last appearance on the big stage; after 19 years with the PDC, both were inducted into the Hall of Fame. At the same time, the arrows flew for the last time in the West Hall of the Ally Pally; the tournament is moving to the larger Great Hall within the palace in north London.
Symbolically, this could be seen as the final step into a new era of darts where young players have taken over.
In addition to Littler, van Veen also represents the completed generational change. “The Giant”, who recently won the Junior World Championships twice in a row, moves to third place in the world rankings by reaching the final, replacing former dominator Michael van Gerwen as number one in the Netherlands after 13 years.
Van Veen gets off to a better start – then comes Littler
Van Veen also got off to a better start in the final, round one went to the Dutchman – but then Littler turned up the heat and wasn’t deterred by the brief return of the Ally Pally wasp.
The defending champion took the next three sets, the third with a 170 finish. Van Veen, who was the third Dutchman to reach the final after world champions Raymond van Barneveld and van Gerwen and had eliminated former world champions Luke Humphries and Anderson, could no longer find a way.
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Littler also won the next sets and the final became a one-man show. With 7:1, the young star achieved his clearest final result since 2009, when Taylor humiliated his arch-rival van Barneveld with the same result. Littler’s record in the Ally Pally remains overwhelming: the Dominator won 20 of 21 games and only lost the 2024 final against Humphries.