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Who is Luke Littler, the 16-year-old prodigy taking over the world of darts?
If you watch a lot of sports you most likely know most of the young up-and-coming stars of tomorrow. But what if I told you there was one you probably haven’t heard of? Meet 16 year old Luke Littler, a new superstar in the world of darts. Littler, ranked #164th in the world, qualified for the 2024 World Championship by winning the PDC Youth Development tour in November. His reward was a first round matchup at the championship with former world champ Christian Kinst. Littler absolutely demolished Kinst, sweeping him 3-0 and becoming an instant sensation.
Since then, the normally raucous event has been complete pandemonium with every Littler win. In the quarterfinal he took down five-time world champion Raymond Van Barneveld while the drunkest crowd you’ve ever seen chanted “you’ve got school in the morning”. On Tuesday, Luke took down yet another former world champion and current #8 Rob Cross to become the youngest player ever to reach the World Championship Final.
Let me reiterate: A teenager, not old enough yet to step foot in a pub, is at the top of the sport of darts.
Littler’s three-dart average of 106.05 in the semifinal was among the highest in tournament history for that round, and the highest seen in any round in the tournament this year. He has 50 180s so far, has decimated everyone he’s played (3-0, 3-1, 4-1, 4-1, 5-1, 6-2), and most importantly, loves to celebrate with a kebab. So much so that a London shop has offered him free kebabs for life if he takes home the trophy on Wednesday.
In researching just how historic this run has been, I looked for an expert and found one in The Guardian and their sports writer Rob Smyth as he live-blogged the semifinals on Tuesday:
We’ve never seen the like. We haven’t even seen the vaguely reminiscent … If you’re a budding darts player, I would advise you to take up snooker. There’s nothing here for you, not for the next 30 years.
People haven’t talked about a young athlete like this since Tiger Woods. The way people leaving Alexandra Palace raved about him you’d think they just saw LeBron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Luke Littler will face #1 ranked Luke Humphries in the PDC World Championship Final on Wednesday at 8pm GMT, 12 noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern.
