Final in London: Fists and tears: Littler became darts world champion at the age of 17

Luke Littler showed both fists, then tears immediately came to the celebrated darts teenager. The 17-year-old Englishman stormed to his first World Cup title with a show of force and was crowned the youngest title holder in World Cup history at the Ally Pally before he came of age. In an unexpectedly one-sided World Cup final, the Englishman dominated the final in London against former champion Michael van Gerwen and clearly defeated the Dutchman 7:3.

Shortly before 10 p.m. local time, Littler passionately raised the 23 kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy – confetti shot from the hall ceiling. His rise to world champion is a modern sports fairy tale. “I can’t believe it, to be honest. I’ve always dreamed of winning this trophy,” said the completely overwhelmed title holder.

The fans sang Littler’s entrance music during the winner’s interview. Once again defeated, van Gerwen honestly admitted: “Big compliment to Luke. Every 17 years a new star is born. Luke Littler is one of them.”

Littler showed no nerves in his second World Cup final and celebrated the biggest and most important success of his young career just three weeks before his 18th birthday. The celebrated youngster acted like a machine, especially on the double 10. Van Gerwen got off to a weak start and was already 4-0 behind after half an hour. There was no sensational comeback. After that it was high class, but no longer really exciting.

The new world champion and successor to Luke Humphries will receive prize money equivalent to around 600,000 euros and the coveted trophy. Exactly a year ago to the day, Littler played his first World Cup final at the age of 16 and, despite a 4-2 lead, lost it 4-7 to Primus Humphries. Behind Humphries, Littler is number two in the world rankings after this World Cup.

“Prince of the Palace” becomes king

Littler replaced opponent van Gerwen as the youngest world champion in history and crowned a splendid season in which he became one of the biggest and most prominent sports stars in Great Britain. Littler quickly gave up the nickname of “Prince of the Palace”.

In the infamous Ally Pally, the young Englishman is now the king of arrow throwers after his second participation. Much to the delight of the 3,500 fans who booed van Gerwen as soon as he came in – and loudly celebrated and sang about the great performance of their favorite Littler throughout the entire game.

Van Gerwen’s mistakes are brutally punished

“It’s going to be damn good,” Littler had predicted after a clear 6-1 win against Stephen Bunting in the semi-final. In fact, the local hero was the only professional whose performance on the final night was damn good. Littler played well and made very few mistakes. Van Gerwen’s mistakes on the doubles, however, were brutally punished again and again. From the middle of the game onwards, van Gerwen got better, but real successes were rare.

Before the game, the 35-year-old Dutchman boasted that he had “balls of steel”. There was little of that to be seen on the biggest stage in the world. For van Gerwen it was already the fourth defeat in a World Cup final.

The titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019 were a long time ago now. Since then, five other players, Gerwyn Price (Wales), Peter Wright (Scotland), Michael Smith (England), Humphries and Littler, have won the coveted trophy. And on Friday there wasn’t much to suggest that van Gerwen can reclaim the darts throne at Ally Pally particularly quickly.