World champion at 17! Child prodigy Littler takes the darts crown

London (Great Britain) - The crown for "The Nuke", England's prodigy in the darts Olympics ! Luke Littler (17) defeated Michael van Gerwen (35) in a top-class final duel - and crowned himself world champion at the age of just 17. The throwing superstar is now the youngest title holder of all time.

The new number one clearly brought the 18-year-old challenger to his knees 7:3 in a spectacular final late on Friday evening and, in addition to the biggest success by far of his young professional career to date, also secured a generous prize of 500,000 British pounds (equivalent to around 603,000 euros).

His opponent has achieved such a coup three times: in 2014, 2017 and 2019, the 35-year-old Dutchman had already lifted the Waddell Trophy, which weighed more than 25 kilograms.

"I can't wait," said Littler after his impressive 6:1 semi-final victory over compatriot Stephen Bunting (39), eagerly anticipating the showdown and announcing a top-level match.

"It's going to be damn good," were the high-flyer's expectant words in the run-up to the match. He was proved right right from the start of the match. Because it was he himself who laid the foundation for a memorable final match with a break to take a 1:0 lead - and went on to win the first set.

Spurred on by the home crowd in the West Hall of the time-honored Alexandra Palace - affectionately known as the "Ally Pally" - in the north of the British metropolis of London, which is home to around 3,500 spectators, Littler set the next exclamation mark in the following set.

While van Gerwen, who is known as "Mighty Mike", missed several chances to hit doubles - and was also unable to land a high finish (128 and 100) - Littler punished his negligence and also won the next three legs to take the set.

It became even clearer when Littler also bagged the 4:0 - and thus put the three-time World Champion in an even bigger predicament.

However, with his back against the wall, van Gerwen fought his way back into the match and made it 4-1 with a 132 checkout in leg 19. Littler had cleared 130 just two legs earlier.

Spurred on by his opponent's improved performance, the already dominant Brit stepped up another gear and opened the sixth set with six perfect darts and the resulting leg win.

Littler was not to be denied the long-awaited mega-success, played his dominant game - and ultimately won 7:3.