Darts World Cup
Dream finale is here – child prodigy meets top favorite
January 3, 2025 – 12:19 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
A final that is eagerly awaited: the darts prodigy from England and the former dominator from the Netherlands are playing for the World Cup crown.
Child prodigy Luke Littler followed three-time champion Michael van Gerwen into the final at the Darts World Cup with a show of power. The Englishman beat his compatriot Stephen Bunting 6-1 and is in the final again in his second World Cup participation. Previously, the Dutchman van Gerwen had also won his semi-final against Chris Dobey with a dominant score of 6-1.
After his defeat in the final last year against Luke Humphries, the 17-year-old Littler wants to secure the Sid Waddell Trophy and prize money of 500,000 pounds (the equivalent of around 581,000 euros) at the second attempt on Friday evening (9 p.m./Sport1 and DAZN). .
Before the tournament started, a final between van Gerwen and Littler or Humphries had emerged as a dream final. After the defending champions were eliminated by Peter Wright in the round of 16, the path was clear for Littler.
Even Bunting couldn’t change that. The 39-year-old quickly got over his initial nervousness, but was hardly able to slow Littler down on his destined path to the final. The fourth in the world rankings impressed with 13 shots over 180 points, a three-dart average of 105.48 and a double rate of around 45 percent.
Littler started the game fantastically, securing the first three sets including a high finish of 158 points and numerous legs with just four shots. Bunting tried as best as he could to keep up with the world class of “The Nuke”, but in the end his limitations were clearly shown.
With his first match dart, Littler made it into the final and the duel with world number three van Gerwen perfect.
The Dutchman, who is in the final for the seventh time, is now looking at his fourth triumph in the Ally Pally. Van Gerwen celebrated his last world title in 2019. With a three-dart average of 98.84 points and a doubles rate of almost 43 percent, the Dutchman dominated the game confidently and gave the weak Dobey no chance. Read more about the match here.
“You have to tell yourself that the title is still a long way away. I don’t want to make any mistakes,” said van Gerwen afterwards: “I’m only in the final. I haven’t won a damn thing. So I have to make sure that I can make it to the final.”
He secured the first set without any problems, and in the second he benefited from three missed set darts from his opponent. Dobey found his way into the game only briefly, but impressively: with the highest possible finish of 170 points and another finish of 108 points, he shortened the score to 1:2 and ignited the atmospheric Ally Pally. But van Gerwen quickly took control again, didn’t give up another set and laid the foundation for the dream final.