Luke Littler sent warning to girlfriend after being spotted with celebs | Other | Sport
Luke Littler has clinched his second World Darts Championship title following another triumphant performance at Alexandra Palace, despite his girlfriend being subjected to online trolling since their relationship became public. Littler, after initially losing the first set, stormed past 23-year-old Gian van Veen to secure the Sid Worrell Trophy.
The 18-year-old world number one and reigning champion has been in exceptional form this year, sailing through the initial three rounds before defeating Rob Cross, Krzysztof Ratajski and Ryan Searle to set up a final showdown with Van Veen on Saturday.
The young prodigy pocketed an impressive £1million in prize money, a significant increase from last year’s grand prize of £500,000. Van Veen, on the other hand, will take home a respectable £400,000 following his commendable journey to the final.
Cycling icon and seven-time Olympic medallist Sir Chris Hoy was present on stage to award Littler and Gian van Veen their trophies. Hoy, a father of two, is currently battling prostate cancer.
With this victory, Littler becomes the fourth player in history to win consecutive world darts titles.
Littler’s girlfriend, Faith Millar, was present at Ally Pally to support him. The 19-year-old beautician from Wigan has been a constant presence at major tournaments since the couple made their relationship public last May, after months of maintaining they were merely good friends.
Millar was seen in the audience on Friday night as her partner defeated Searle in the semi-finals, mingling with famous faces including singer Lewis Capaldi, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! champion Angry Ginge, and Sidemen stars Harry Lewis and Ethan Payne.
She also enjoyed a pre-match kiss with Littler on stage, a tradition that has become customary for the young darts sensation.
Following the public revelation of their relationship, ‘The Nuke’ spoke warmly of his girlfriend as she joined him Down Under for the Australian Darts Masters.
“She’s a lovely lady, Faith,” Littler revealed. “I think it’s sort of what I needed. I knew my mum and dad weren’t going to come. And as soon as I asked the question, she was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance’. So, I said, ‘You can come with me.'”
However, having become one of sport’s most familiar faces after his rapid rise in the darts arena, the teenager admitted he felt obliged to warn Millar about the attention and abuse she would likely encounter as his partner.
Recognising that the abuse the couple had suffered from online trolls had “been tough”, Littler revealed: “Obviously, at the start of last year, I was always looking at the comments. And she’s been having a look [at the] negativity.
“But I just said, ‘They’re jealous. They wanna ruin us.’ I just said, ‘Just don’t look at it and just focus on what we’ve got’.”
Littler has faced this predicament before, as his ex-girlfriend, Eloise Milburn, was subjected to abuse, largely due to her being five years older than the then-16-year-old darts prodigy. He urged online trolls to stop their actions at that time.
He had to step in again when Milburn was targeted with more abuse following their split in July 2024. This happened despite Littler being the one to end the relationship.
