Luke Littler smashes Gian van Veen to win World Championship and £1m prize | Other | Sport
Luke Littler became the first to win back-to-back World Darts Championship titles in a decade as the teenager annihilated Gian van Veen to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy. The all-conquering Littler’s third Ally Pally final in a row saw him come from a set behind to win 7-1 against European and World Youth champion Van Veen. Victory also means that Littler takes home a massive £1million in prize money, which is a PDC record for a single event.
The 18-year-old averaged 106.02 and smacked in 16 180s and four 100-plus finishes on the way to glory and had tears in his eyes as he celebrated his latest major success. His girlfriend Faith Millar was also seen crying in the crowd. Littler was unable to deliver a sought-after nine-dart finish after missing at T20 on his seventh dart in the fifth set, yet that ultimately did not matter a jot as he won the biggest tournament in darts yet again, despite not turning 19 for another 18 days.
Van Veen had been looking to upset the odds and initially started brilliantly. The 6ft 4ins Dutchman, himself only 23 years of age, had not won a single match at this tournament before this year. But he dumped out former world champions Luke Humphries and Anderson en route to the final.
And the Giant, who will rise to third in the world rankings after this, checked out 116 with 12 darts in the opening leg of the final and took the first set. However, that was only after missing two darts at D8 and one at D4. Littler missed two of his own on his favoured D10 checkout.
A 145 checkout saw Van Veen break Littler’s throw at the start of set two and he followed that with a 127 to secure a fourth consecutive leg. But the world No.1 broke back in a run of three consecutive legs to make it a set apiece.
In the third set, Littler averaged 115.68 as he managed a 112 finish, an 11-dart leg and a Big Fish and marched into a 2-1 lead. The Warrington teen was in a flow state from there and won all three legs of the fourth set.
The infamous Ally Pally wasp re-emerged to the amusement of the London crowd, and the annoyance of Littler, but even that wasn’t enough to stop Luke the Nuke from blowing Van Veen away. He stretched his advantage to 4-1 while averaging almost 108 per visit.
Van Veen missed an opportunity to break early in the sixth set, burning two darts on D20, and after cutting his hand accidentally left blood on the board in the 5. Littler put on a clinic as he outplayed the Dutchman, outscoring and outfinishing his opponent as he again won all three legs to make it 5-1.
The board was changed, much to the frustration of both Littler and Van Veen, due to the speck of blood. But Littler’s momentum was not halted as the Englishman won 14 of 15 legs to increase his advantage. Van Veen threw six perfect darts to set up a nine-dart opportunity of his own before finding T5 instead of T20 to disappoint the fans. And he missed darts on D18 and D9 for the score to slip to 6-1 to the highest-ranked player on the planet.
After starting the set with a 180, Littler continued to hammer them in and won three of four legs – sealing the match with a 147 checkout – in the deciding set to secure himself another World Championship crown.
Littler had already enjoyed an incredible 12 months since his first world title. In 2025, he won the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals.
On top of that, he triumphed in two World Series events and finished as the Premier League runner-up. But he had made no secret of his biggest desire – to defend his World Championship title. Having done so, he becomes the first man to go back-to-back since Gary Anderson 10 years ago.
