Luke Littler, 17, becomes youngest world darts champion by beating Michael van Gerwen 7-3 Luke Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history on Friday when the 17-year-old Englishman lived up to his billing as Britain’s latest sporting superstar.
It completes the remarkable rise of Littler, a prodigy from Warrington in northwest England who first threw a dart as an 18-month-old toddler, was junior world champion in 2023 and reached the world final last year — at age 16 — before losing to top-ranked Luke Humphries.
Littler handled the huge pressure and expectation on him to return to the final 12 months later and powered 4-0 up in sets against Van Gerwen, a darts phenom himself as a youngster and with world titles in 2014, ‘17 and ’19.
Van Gerwen was previously the youngest world champion in the elite Professional Darts Corporation competition, winning the 2014 final at age 24.
Littler beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the final at a boisterous Alexandra Palace in London.
