Confident performance at the Darts World Cup
Show of power: World champion Littler is in the final
Updated on January 2, 2026 – 10:17 p.mReading time: 8 minutes
The first finalist of the Darts World Cup 2026 has been determined. World champion Luke Littler gets the chance to defend his title.
The world champion is moving towards defending his title: Luke Littler has reached the final of the Darts World Cup for the third time in a row. The 18-year-old Englishman clearly won 6-1 against his compatriot Ryan Searle on Friday evening. “The Nuke” didn’t give “Heavy Metal” the slightest chance and even won eleven legs in a row.
Littler, who celebrated his first world title a year ago, will try to win the Sid Waddell Trophy again on Saturday evening. It is not yet clear who his opponent is. On Friday evening, Dutchman Gian van Veen will face two-time world champion Gary Anderson from Scotland in the second semi-final.
Littler 6-1 Searle (2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-0, 3-0, 3-0, 3-2)
7th set, 5th leg – the match is over. Luke Littler is in the final of the Darts World Cup for the third time in a row. Searle has the lead, but Heavy Metal’s scoring just isn’t consistent this evening. Littler, on the other hand, hits high triples on every shot in this leg and sinks his first match dart on double 20. The world champion played an average of over 105 points here today and quite rightly reached the final.
7th set, 4th leg – Searle could have secured the set, but he misses the decisive dart on double 16. Littler checks 40 points over double 20. So it goes into the decider in the seventh sentence.
7th set, 3rd leg – Searle doesn’t want to give up here and takes the lead again. Littler can’t play down his 82 remaining points. “Heavy Metal” is here and checks his 8 points via the double 4.
7th set, 2nd leg – The next leg goes straight back to Littler, who ends up checking over double 20 again. The quick compensation.
7th set, 1st leg – Searle is still alive and can finally win another leg. “Heavy Metal” does this in a particularly impressive way, checking the 170 points, the greatest possible finish. The crowd at “Ally Pally” celebrates.
6th set, 3rd leg – What a show of power from Littler, who also wins the sixth set here. And that with twelve darts. He follows 140 points with 134 and 136 before checking 91. Words fail you. The third final in a row is only one set away.
6th set, 2nd leg – Littler sniffs the 9-darter. Twice in a row he hits all three arrows into the triple 20. But then, to the annoyance of the fans, he only hits the triple 5. In the end it doesn’t matter because this leg also goes to “The Nuke” because Searle simply can’t find his way into the game anymore. Littler ultimately checks his six points via the double 3.