Luke Littler, 17, becomes the youngest world darts champion by beating Michael van Gerwen 7-3

Luke Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history on Friday as the 17-year-old Englishman lived up to his billing as Britain’s latest sporting superstar.

Littler beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the final at a raucous Alexandra Palace in London.

It completes the remarkable rise of Littler, a child prodigy from Warrington in northwest England who first threw a dart as an 18-month-old toddler, was world junior champion in 2023 and reached the world finals last year – aged 16 – before losing to top-ranked Luke Humphries.

It catapulted him to stardom, making him famous far beyond darts, while lifting the sport into the mainstream as in its heyday in the 1980s.

Littler handled the immense pressure and expectation on him to return to the final 12 months later, going 4-0 up in sets against Van Gerwen, a darts phenom even as a youngster with world titles in 2014, ’17 and ’19.

The Dutchman made it 4-1, 5-2 and 6-3, but Littler could not be stopped.

Van Gerwen was previously the youngest world champion in the elite Professional Darts Corporation competition, winning the 2014 final at the age of 24.

Jelle Klaasen won the now defunct British Darts Organization world title in 2006 at the age of 21.

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