Teenager Luke Littler ist mit einer Machtdemonstration zum ersten WM-Titel gestürmt und hat sich mit 17 Jahren die Darts-Krone aufgesetzt. In einem einseitigen WM-Finale dominierte der Engländer das Finale in London gegen Ex-Champion Michael van Gerwen und besiegte diesen klar mit 7:3.
0:4 nach gut 30 Minuten
Littler zeigte in seinem zweiten WM-Finale keinerlei Nervosität und feierte knapp drei Wochen vor seinem 18. Geburtstag den größten und bedeutendsten Erfolg seiner jungen Karriere. Vor allem auf die Doppel-10 agierte der gefeierte Youngster wie eine Maschine. Van Gerwen erwischte einen schwachen Start und lag nach einer halben Stunde schon mit 0:4 zurück. Ein sensationelles Comeback blieb aus. Danach wurde es zwar hochklassig, aber nicht mehr wirklich spannend.
The new world champion and successor to Luke Humphries will receive prize money equivalent to around 600,000 euros and the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy, which weighs around 23 kilograms. Exactly a year ago to the day, Littler played his first World Cup final at the age of 16 and, despite a 4-2 lead, lost it 4-7 to Primus Humphries. Behind Humphries, Littler is number two in the world rankings after this World Cup.
“Prince of the Palace” becomes king
Littler replaced opponent van Gerwen as the youngest world champion in history and crowned a splendid season in which he became one of the biggest and most prominent sports stars in Great Britain. Littler quickly gave up the nickname of “Prince of the Palace”.
In the infamous Ally Pally, the young Englishman is now the king of arrow throwers after his second participation. Much to the delight of the 3,500 fans who booed van Gerwen as soon as he came in – and loudly celebrated and sang about the great performance of their favorite Littler throughout the entire game.
Van Gerwen's mistakes are brutally punished
“It’s going to be damn good,” Littler had predicted after a clear 6-1 win against Stephen Bunting in the semi-final. In fact, the local hero was the only professional whose performance on the final night was damn good. Littler played well and made very few mistakes. Van Gerwen's mistakes on the doubles, however, were brutally punished again and again. From the middle of the game onwards, van Gerwen got better, but real successes were rare.
Before the game, the 35-year-old Dutchman boasted that he had “balls of steel”. There was little of that to be seen on the biggest stage in the world. For van Gerwen it was already the fourth defeat in a World Cup final.
The titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019 were a long time ago now. Since then, five other players, Gerwyn Price (Wales), Peter Wright (Scotland), Michael Smith (England), Humphries and Littler, have won the coveted trophy. And on Friday there wasn't much to suggest that van Gerwen can reclaim the darts throne at Ally Pally particularly quickly.
