Darts World Cup in London: Beginning of an era: World champion Littler pulverizes records

Luke Littler pulled the gigantic Sid Waddell Trophy through the Ally Pally like a happy toddler with his best Christmas present. Proud and overwhelmed, the youngest World Cup champion in darts history first had to sort out his feelings. Then Littler made an announcement in London that was likely to scare the competition, which had already largely had no chance at this World Cup.

“Maybe I’ll win a few more world championships. If I want 16, I’m sure I can possibly reach that mark,” said the 17-year-old after the historic darts day, which gave him not only the huge winner’s trophy but also prize money brought in around 600,000 euros. 16 times world champion, that is still the utopian mark of legend Phil Taylor, who dominated the sport for decades and said goodbye in 2018.

But when Taylor became world champion for the first time, he was already 29. And Littler, who is already one of the best-known British sports stars, is playing as a minor at a level that “The Power” Taylor or final loser Michael van Gerwen did at their very best played. “What a fantastic performance, huge congratulations,” Taylor wrote over van Gerwen after Littler’s dominant 7-3 final win.

The defeated Dutchman, who is not usually known for his quiet tones, admitted on stage: “I always take my hat off to people who beat me in a great game. That’s just how sport works.” He has the impression that the sport of darts gets a new star every 17 years.

Like Becker and Graf once did

For van Gerwen, the star 17 years ago was himself. The star of today, for everyone, is undoubtedly Littler, who is taking the entire sport to a new level and increasing interest to huge levels. Even England’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated a few minutes after the last arrow was thrown.

“An inspiring performance. And under this pressure to lift the trophy. You can be really proud of what you achieved tonight. Not just for yourself but for the entire sport of darts,” Starmer wrote on X. The darts hype in England fueled by Littler is reminiscent of German tennis in the 1980s, when Boris Becker and Steffi Graf won Grand Slam tournaments as teenagers.

A good two weeks until you come of age

Even before his coronation, Littler was the most searched athlete on the British Isles on Google in 2024 – ahead of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, among others. Only US President-elect Donald Trump and Princess Kate were typed into the search engine more often than the darts youngster. The hype surrounding the passionate Manchester United fan is unlikely to diminish in the days following the show of force. It’s the last few weeks before Littler turns 18 on January 21st.

“I can’t believe it,” said Littler, who celebrated the triumph on the world’s biggest darts stage with his family and manager Martin Foulds. In the coming year, the world champion is likely to go into every tournament as the favorite. “I could finish 2025 without any more titles, but I would still have won the best trophy. I want to win more than ten titles this year, but if that doesn’t happen, I still have the whole big thing,” Littler clarified .

“Cat and mouse game” with van Gerwen

In the ranking, the Englishman improved from fourth place to second place – even though he only actively competed in one of the two years that count for the ranking. World champion Luke Humphries, who was already dethroned in the round of 16, still leads by a clear margin, but Littler’s sporting hunt for him has begun with the world title at the latest.

For the English tabloid media and the broadcasting TV channels, Littler is a huge gift. Experts and former players are also very happy with the teenager, who showed virtually no nerves in the biggest game of the year. “It’s almost like a cat-and-mouse game that Littler played here with van Gerwen,” said former world champion John Part.