Come at the king, you best not miss. A record 128 players started the World Darts Championship and seven took their shot at reigning champion Luke Littler along the way. Some fans turned on him too over the three weeks and his walk-ons were regularly accompanied by a smattering of noisy boos. Yet no one could knock him off his stride, not even rising star Gian van Veen, who was ripped limb from limb by a ruthless Littler on the Alexandra Palace stage as the champion retained his crown.
At times it seemed like the whole darts world was against him. This was a different Littler to the boy who triumphed 12 months ago against Michael van Gerwen on the same platform: a snarling, snorting Littler, hurling darts like he’d pinned the face of a sworn enemy to the board, ripping them out of the treble-20 bed after each of his 16 180s with feeling.
His onslaught was stalled only twice, first by a wasp that attacked his head during the fifth set, and then when the board had to be changed after Van Veen smeared a spot of blood across single five in the latter stages. Minutes later he bled out in a brutal 7-1 thrashing.
“This is why we are here and it’s not stopping any time soon,” Littler said. “It’s very special. We have to keep going, keep adding more titles. We can’t stop here. This year, last year, the year before, we are still on this rollercoaster.”
Most teenagers haven’t yet left their hometown: Littler is 18 and has already lost one world final, returned to win the crown 12 months later and come back again to emphatically defend his title. In doing so he has cemented himself as one of the greats of the game, even though most of his astonishing career still yawns ahead of him.
In his first final he was the 16-year-old prodigy Luke, and we watched to see how far he could go, to see whether a boy from Warrington could conquer the world. He couldn’t could he? Well, no, not quite. Then came his arrival to the summit, the natural culmination of his freakish talent. He tore down the great Van Gerwen 12 month ago in a symbolic passing of the torch from one era to the next.
This third instalment was something different. He was back as a man, with millions of pounds and a sackful of trophies and even a driving licence. The narrative had shifted from plucky underdog to kingpin and that put a target on his back. Humphries said he would beat him and called it a “war” between them. Van Gerwen said he was Littler’s most feared competitor and anything else was a lie. Neither were right. Instead it was a new rival, Van Veen, standing between Littler and the trophy he most coveted.
Littler is five years Van Veen’s junior but he was the veteran in this arena, the one who had been there before and done it, and failed too. It is a space he owns now. Van Veen has been brilliant for several months, winning the European Championship and blitzing his way to the final here with dominant wins over Humphries and Gary Anderson. Had he replicated his 105 average against Humphries then the Dutchman might have come close, but perhaps he can take some solace from the fact that he still wouldn’t have been Littler in this form.
Littler finished with a 106.02 three-dart average – the highest in any world final since Rob Cross in 2018 – and took out 46% of his doubles, compared to Van Veen’s 101.77 average and 38% finishing.
“It wasn’t the greatest game of my whole tournament, but Luke wasn’t in the mood to give me more chances,” said Van Veen, who is the new world No 3 and took away a cheque for £400,000, as Littler collected a record £1m prize. “I would have liked to lift up the title, I would have liked to have given Luke a game, but that’s what I didn’t do today.”
The build-up to this final was a valiant effort to shape this into the sport’s new rivalry. They are different people, and the rugby-league town of Warrington probably doesn’t share much in common with the tiny Dutch village of Poederoijen. They are different characters, too. Littler likes kebabs and Xbox; Van Veen has a degree in aerospace engineering. One is instinctive, the other calculated. Littler is precocious and confident and wears an aura; Van Veen is altogether more discreet, with little fist punches and wry smiles under his thin-rimmed glasses, the kind of man who might apologise for being bumped into.
He has a steeliness under that gentle facade but it abandoned him here, understandably so. A lifetime before Littler kissed the trophy, Van Veen had actually made the perfect start, winning the bull-up backstage to throw first and then beginning the first leg with 140, 140 en route to a 10-darter. The first set went to a deciding leg, where Littler wasted the chance and was furious with himself, chuntering under his breath as Van Veen took out double four to lead 1-0.
Set two was astonishing as both players averaged more than 110. Van Veen took out 145 to win the first leg against the throw, and followed it with a 127 finish to take a stranglehold. He was a wire’s width from taking out 127 again to clinch the set and a 2-0 lead, but missed, and Littler made him pay with a nerveless 116 finish and a roar to the ceiling.
He ripped through the third set, finishing it with the big fish and a fishing celebration for good measure. As “walking in a Littler wonderland” rang out around Ally Pally, Van Veen looked a little shellshocked. Littler took down the fourth set in double-quick time to lead 3-1 before they took a break.
Littler raced through the next two sets with his average hovering around 107, and the match seemed more about whether he could finally deliver a nine-darter in this tournament. Twice he went close, only to miss dart seven or eight without giving himself a shot at the magic ninth. When Van Veen made his own chance at a nine-darter, not only did he miss but Littler stole the leg, and with it the seventh set, to lead 6-1.
He finished needing only one dart at double 15 and celebrated by bending over double, beating his own shins with his palms, which felt in keeping with his darts, doing something no one has ever seen before on that stage. It was utterly supreme. This is not the era of Littler-Humphries or even Littler-Van Veen. It is simply the age of Littler, and he is going nowhere.
