Nobody expected such a clear-cut victory. Luke Littler wins the eagerly awaited World Championship final against rival van Gerwen. The Englishman is thus crowned king of darts before his 18th birthday.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- 17-year-old Luke Littler is World Darts Champion
- The Englishman wins the world championship final against three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen.
- After the victory, Littler says that he had "always dreamed" of winning the trophy and receives words of praise from his Dutch opponent.
Luke Littler showed both fists, then the acclaimed darts teenager was in tears. The 17-year-old Englishman stormed to his first World Championship title with a demonstration of power and crowned himself the youngest title winner in World Championship history at the Ally Pally even before he came of age. In an unexpectedly one-sided World Championship final, the Englishman dominated the final in London against former champion Michael van Gerwen and clearly defeated the Dutchman 7:3.
"Always dreamed of it"
Shortly before 10 p.m. local time, Littler passionately raised the 23-kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy into the air - confetti shot from the hall ceiling. His rise to world champion is a modern sports fairytale. "I can't believe it, quite honestly. I've always dreamed of winning this trophy," said the completely overwhelmed title winner.
The fans were already singing Littler's warm-up music during the winner's interview. The once again beaten van Gerwen admitted honestly: "A big compliment to Luke. A new star is born every 17 years. Luke Littler is one of them."
0:4 after a good 30 minutes
Littler showed no signs of nervousness in his second World Cup final and celebrated the biggest and most significant success of his young career just three weeks before his 18th birthday. Especially on the double 10 the celebrated youngster acted like a machine. Van Gerwen got off to a weak start and was already 4-0 down after half an hour. A sensational comeback failed to materialize. After that it was high-class, but no longer really exciting.
The new world champion and successor to Luke Humphries will receive the equivalent of around 600,000 euros in prize money and the coveted trophy. Exactly one year ago to the day, Littler played his first World Championship final at the age of 16 and lost it 4:7 to Primus Humphries despite leading 4:2. After this World Championship, Littler is number two in the world rankings behind Humphries.
"Prince of the Palace" becomes king
Littler replaced his opponent van Gerwen as the youngest world champion in history and crowned a brilliant season in which he rose to become one of the biggest and most prominent sports stars in Great Britain. Littler quickly shed the nickname of the "Prince of the Palace".
At the notorious Ally Pally, the young Englishman is now the king of the dart throwers after just his second appearance. Much to the delight of the 3500 fans, who booed van Gerwen as soon as he entered - and loudly celebrated and sang about the great performance of their favorite Littler for the entire duration of the match.
Van Gerwen's slip-ups are brutally punished
"It's going to be damn good," predicted Littler after a clear 6:1 win over Stephen Bunting in the semi-finals. In fact, the local hero was the only professional whose performance on the final evening was damn good. Littler played in a relaxed manner and made very few mistakes. Van Gerwen's mistakes on the doubles, on the other hand, were brutally punished again and again. Van Gerwen got better from the middle of the match, but real successes were rare.
Before the match, the 35-year-old Dutchman had boasted that he had "balls of steel". There was little evidence of this on the world's biggest darts stage. It was van Gerwen's fourth defeat in a World Championship final.
The titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019 are now a long time ago. Since then, five other players - Gerwyn Price (Wales), Peter Wright (Scotland), Michael Smith (England), Humphries and Littler - have lifted the coveted trophy. And on Friday there was not much to suggest that van Gerwen would be able to reclaim the darts throne at the Ally Pally particularly quickly.
