Spectacular debut from Luke Littler
“The best teenager of all time” inspires the Darts World Cup
By Kevin Schulte
December 21, 2023, 5:28 a.m
16-year-old Luke Littler was immediately declared a candidate for the title after his first game at the Darts World Cup. Even the best darts player of all time says that Littler can become one of the best players of all time. Who is the super talent?
Fans, experts and players will probably remember this evening at the Darts World Cup for a long time. Not necessarily just because Peter Wright, the 2020 and 2022 world champion, has embarrassed himself badly and has to travel home from the Darts World Cup after a 3-0 defeat against Jim Williams. But also, or especially, because a new star may have been born this Wednesday evening in London’s Alexandra Palace. Luke Littler, who was just 16 years old, was allowed to play with the big boys for the first time. And immediately beat up his experienced opponent.
Former amateur world champion Christian Kist from the Netherlands would probably have defeated many opponents in the first round of this world championship with his passable performance. Against Luke Littler, an average of 90 points per shot was only enough for a paltry two legs. With 0:3 in the sets (0:3, 1:3, 1:3) Kist lost against the English super talent.
On this sixth day of the tournament, Littler eclipsed everything the Darts World Cup has seen so far this year: the statistics showed an incredible 106 points on average for him at the end. In doing so, Littler shattered the previous records of this tournament: 100 points from Ryan Joyce in the first game last night and 100 points from defending champion Michael Smith in his opening game a week ago.
Luke “The Nuke” Littler was unleashed on the World Darts Championship on December 20, 2023. “This is a ‘Lionel Messi makes his first game for Barca’ moment,” wrote Dazn commentator Adrian Geiler on X.
“It was an incredible experience. My training went well, but I didn’t expect to bring this level to the stage,” said Littler, speaking of his biggest highlight of his career to date.
At the age of 14 at the men’s amateur world championships
It is not a steep thesis that there will be many more highlights to come. Back in 2008, just 18 months after his birth, Littler threw his first darts onto the dartboard. At the age of eight, he joined St Helens’ youth academy. This is the most successful talent factory in British darts. Top players like Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting were once promoted here. The perfect environment to hone talent.
At the age of 14 (!), the teenager from near Liverpool qualified for the WDF Amateur World Championship, but not for the youth competition, but for the men’s competition. Because the age limit for the professional darts organization PDC is 16, Littler had to wait until the beginning of this year to make his debut at a PDC tournament.
What was even more annoying for him was that the qualification for the professional tour took place two weeks before his 16th birthday in January. He was therefore denied the chance to regularly meet the top players this year. Instead, Littler competed in the junior tour tournaments, won a total of five events and even took the junior world championship title for players under 23 at the end of November.
“The Power” is overwhelmed
Even Phil Taylor, the most successful player of all time with 16 World Cup titles, is overwhelmed by the quality of the 16-year-old. “He’s the best teenager I’ve ever seen in my life. I expect him to be one of the best players of all time,” predicted “The Power” before the start of the World Cup.
But Littler doesn’t have a guarantee of success either. The conditions are ideal, but there have been some super talents who didn’t come to fruition, Taylor also knows. “At your age, of course you want to go out and have fun. But then you have to stay home and put in the effort.”
Taylor himself will be keeping an eye on the 16-year-old; after all, the darts legend has already contacted Littler personally and is available to give him advice.
Draw makes Littler dream
So far, Littler seems to be focusing solely on darts. How he deals with the fuss surrounding himself can already be seen this evening. Then he will face the world number 20 in the duel for a place in the third round. Andrew Gilding (8:15 p.m., Sport1/Dazn). The 16-year-old is favorite against the UK Open winner after his mega opening game. And because two seeded players, James Wade and Peter Wright, have already said goodbye in his area of the draw, even the quarter-finals are not an unrealistic goal.
British TV pundit Wayne Mardle can imagine an even bigger run. Even the world championship title is not unthinkable. “You have just experienced something extraordinary. Luke Littler is perhaps the greatest natural talent I have ever seen,” wrote Mardle immediately after Littler’s victory at van Gerwen closest.”
The Dutch superstar is aiming for his fourth world title this year. Wayne Mardle is convinced that Luke Littler will soon be one of van Gerwen’s title rivals.