England’s Luke Littler on Saturday thrashed Dutchman Gian van Veen to win the PDC World Darts title for the second successive year in front of a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd.
The 18-year-old dropped the first set in the best-of-13-set showdown, but hit back to stamp his authority on Van Veen who had no answer to Littler’s relentless scoring.
World No. 1 Littler never looked troubled, apart from during the brief appearance of a wasp, banging in 180s and high checkouts as he wrapped up a 7-1 victory to claim the ￡1 million (US$1.35 million) first prize.
Photo: Reuters
The first ever ￡1 million check in darts is a once-unthinkable windfall that owes itself not entirely, but largely to the Littler effect: an electrifying ripple of attention and interest that has drawn in the younger audiences other sports spend decades trying to chase down.
He is the first player to win back-to-back titles since Scotland’s Gary Anderson in 2016.
Littler’s victory charge was briefly interrupted during a dazzling spell of nine successive legs as the board needed to be replaced after Van Veen cut his hand and left a small blob of blood on the surface.
Van Veen stopped the rot to win a leg in the eighth set, but the laser-like focus of Littler was unbroken as he turned the final stages of the contest into a procession, sealing the title with a 147 checkout.
“The first set I wasn’t happy, but I kicked on from there and said to myself: ‘Give it time and you’ll find it,’ and it all went to plan,” Littler said on stage.
“Credit to Gian, he’s had a great tournament. He was there every set so I had to take my chances,” he added.
The 23-year-old Van Veen beat Anderson to reach his first world championship final and initially looked dangerous.
Having come from behind in the first set to take it after Littler missed a double, Van Veen then went 2-0 ahead in the second set with checkouts of 145 and 127.
Van Veen narrowly missed a 127 checkout that would have given him a two-set lead and that proved the turning point as his dream of emulating former Dutch champions Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld evaporated.
Additional reporting by the Guardian
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