Luke Littler thrashes Michael van Gerwen to claim historic world title
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Tonight the Palace; tomorrow the planet. Whatever Luke Littler goes on to achieve in the fields of darts, celebrity or world peace, nothing will ever quite match the crystalline beauty of this moment. Champion of the world for the first time, the culmination and fulfilment of a dream that has not – if you think about it – really been in gestation for that long.
![[Luke Littler in action as Michael van Gerwen watches on.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0f3292ffe84c4efe9c8b224137d23c0c3cb3ade6/0_187_5624_3374/master/5624.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
An ascent this violent and spectacular simply deserved a triumph to match, and in thrashing Michael van Gerwen by seven sets to three, Littler may well have demolished not just one of the greatest players in history, but an entire era. Darts, a game conceived in the pub, may well have been perfected in a teenage bedroom.
![[Luke Littler struggles to contain his emotions after his world title triumph.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/910664d23705f71ed65eabf72cc5061e0ae09924/0_67_2765_1776/master/2765.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
What makes this 17-year-old from Warrington so good? A solid base, an economical and repeatable action, the sort of unerring accuracy on the double-10 that would probably qualify him for a medical licence. The ability to slide darts over or under their predecessors, so a bed is never truly blocked. This is the stuff you can see.
But then there’s the stuff you can only really intuit: the aura, the swagger, a flair and flamboyance that simply demands you drop everything and watch. Like the great Phil Taylor, except about 30 years younger and with the ability to throw three darts in about the time it took Taylor to throw one. Who commands from the public not a grudging respect but a kind of instinctive fascination, part animal magnetism and part museum curiosity.
Comparisons with other teenage prodigies are obviously inevitable. But this isn’t Emma Raducanu, because Littler is actually really good, has already won other stuff, will definitely win more. This isn’t Lionel Messi or Tiger Woods, because everyone could see them growing into gianthood from an early age. This isn’t some freak Olympic gymnast or swimmer benefiting from an industrial coaching system and very possibly a state-run doping regime.
