At 17, Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler defeats Van Gerwen to become the youngest champion

Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler, a 17-year-old phenom, defeated Michael van Gerwen 7-3 on Friday to collect the 500,000-pound ($621,600) winner’s check and become the youngest-ever PDC darts world champion.

In his sixth final at North London’s ‘Ally Pally’ Alexandra Palace, three-time champion Van Gerwen, 35, suffered a devastating defeat in the darts showdown for the highest prize in front of 3,200 boisterous spectators dressed in fancy dress.

“It’s unbelievable. With tears in his eyes, the adolescent exclaimed, “To be honest, I can’t believe it.”

After losing 7-4 in a final last year that made him a household name, the phenomenon, whose ascent began with shooting magnetic darts as a kid, had finally realized his ambition.

“We both performed really well. I needed to start out quickly tonight, as I mentioned in my interviews, and I did just that.

“Everyone dreams of lifting this trophy, but you’ve got to get through a tough field.”

Van Gerwen’s finishing touch failed him, and he frowned in despair. Littler took a cagey opening set and then rediscovered his groove with two rapid 180s to go 2-0 up, winning six of the first seven legs.

The first leg of the third set was won by Van Gerwen, who will leave as runner-up with 200,000 pounds more, but it was a false dawn as an unyielding Littler triumphed 4-0 with a bullseye finish.

The Dutch ‘Green Machine’, who in 2014 became the youngest world champion at the age of 24, demonstrated that he was still in the game by winning the fifth set, but his comeback was unsuccessful.

With a firm hand and unflinching vision, Littler made two swift 180-degree turns in quick succession to win the first leg of the sixth set. He then hammered in two more maximum scores to seal the set and take a 5-1 lead.

Littler, who finished the event with the most 180s, dominated the third set to regain his lead to 6-2 after Van Gerwen improved his game to draw back to 5-2.

Littler, who turns 18 on January 21, easily won the final set to claim the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy, delaying the inevitable with another set to the Dutchman.

Two bullseyes and a double 16 to check out finally let out the pent-up emotion.

As the festivities subsided, he remarked, “I learned a lot last year.” “I got the visions when I watched the entire 2024 final match versus Luke (Humphries) earlier today.

“I could end 2025 winning absolutely nothing (more) but I’ve picked up one of the best.”

Van Gerwen said that it hurt and that he had not done himself justice, but that’s the way things are.

“Give him fair play. He took advantage of every opportunity he had to harm me.

“I sometimes say every 17 years a star gets born and he’s one of them.”

$1 is equal to 0.8044 pounds.