Luke Littler and Gian van Veen took centre stage at Alexandra Palace on Saturday night, as darts’ next generation battled to take home the PDC World Championship title
Luke Littler has won his second PDC World Championship title after another stunning victory at Alexandra Palace, thrashing Gian van Veen 7-1. Littler, 18, lost the first set before blasting past 23-year-old Van Veen to lift the Sid Worrell Trophy.
Midway through the final, Littler was stopped in his tracks by a wasp. And in another peculiar incident, organisers were forced to change the board, as Van Veen’s blood had stained it.
The teenager will bank a whopping £1million in prize money, with the winners’ jackpot having doubled from last year’s grand prize of £500,000. Van Veen, meanwhile, will collect a cool £400,000 following his impressive run to the final.
Cycling legend and seven-time Olympic medallist Sir Chris Hoy came on stage to present Littler and Gian van Veen with their silverware. Dad-of-two Hoy is battling prostate cancer.
Littler is now the fourth player in history to win back-to-back world darts titles. The Warrington-born star follows in the footsteps of legends such as Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson.
“It feels amazing. First of all, I’ve got to say thank you to (Master of Ceremonies) John McDonald and (referee) George Noble – what fantastic careers they have had,” an overjoyed Littler said.
“Everyone knows what happened with Anthony Joshua and his team, rest in peace to his friends, just like AJ said… the first time was so nice, I had to do it twice.
“I wasn’t happy going into the break 1-0 down, but I had to kick on from there. I said just give it time, you’ll find it. It all came to plan. Gian, what a tournament, he can be very happy for himself.”
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On the eye-watering prize money, he added: “It is life-changing for anyone. Even the first round was doubled. It’s life-changing, this win has just increased that gap from Luke Humphries and I’m in the clear as world number one.”
Littler was lauded for his dominant display. “Just when you think, ‘He can’t do that’… It’s improbable,” former world champion John Part hailed on Sky Sports. “He is the improbable dart player.
“Van Veen started out with lots of heart and got the first set. The second set in my mind is where Luke Littler won this. He ran with it all the way to this 147 finish.”
Van Veen, on the other hand, was left disappointed. “The scoring maybe tonight wasn’t my greatest game in the whole tournament,” the Dutchman admitted.
“Luke wasn’t in the mood to give me any more chances. He played phenomenally. I missed too many chances to make it an even game. That’s why he’s world number one by a margin now and back-to-back world champion.”
