Luke (the Nuke) Littler has the chance to become the youngest winner in the history of the PDC Darts World Championship when he plays in the final on Wednesday in London.
The 16-year-old England native entered uncharted territory when he beat 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semifinals on Tuesday. The record for youngest finalist was previously held by Kirk Shepherd, who was 21 when he made the finals in 2008.
It's been nothing short of a story-book run for the previously unheralded Littler. He threw his first dart at just 18 months, playing on a magnetic board. Fast forward 16 years and he's knocked off multiple professionals, earned as much as £200,000 Euros (more than $291,586 Cdn.) throughout the world championship, and with a world title could even secure free kebabs for life.
Littler will take on fellow England native Luke Humphries in the final.
If he were to win, it'd make him the youngest champion ever, eight years younger than previous record holder Michael van Gerwen, when he won his first title in 2014.
Despite having played in just four senior matches prior to the championship, the teenager was able to take down four ranked players en route to the finals, including one of his childhood heroes and five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld.
He's also gained quite the following on social media as a result of his play at the world championship. Littler has over 400,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 88,000 on X (formerly Twitter). He even got the attention of another professional athlete -- Tottenham Hotspurs, and England national player James Maddison.
The midfielder had become such a fan that he invited the teen to watch Tottenham against Bournemouth as his special guest, the day before Littler beat 29th-ranked Brendan Dolan in the quarterfinals.
Littler entered the tournament tied for 164th in the world rankings. His performance already has people anticipating his ranking to jump over 100 spots and a world title might even push him into the top-10.
Even if Littler doesn't pull out a win on Wednesday, fans of the sport can expect to see a lot more of him.
After completing his General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs) last summer, Littler decided to pursue a professional career in darts full-time.
He's also expected to earn a one-year professional tour card for 2024 after the world championship is over, as one of the top-64 ranked players.
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