Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler fell one win short of a historic world darts title on Wednesday.
The 16-year-old England native lost to Luke Humphries in the final of the PDC World Darts Championship in London.
Littler became the first teenager to make it all the way to the final, beating out Kirk Shepherd, who previously held the title for youngest finalist and was 21 years old when he made it there in 2008. Shepherd lost to Canadian John Part that year and was unable to dethrone Michael van Gerwen (24) as the youngest champion ever.
Unfortunately for Littler, his miraculous title run ended the same way when he lost 7-4 to fellow Englishman Humphries.
“Honestly, I was thinking in the back of my mind, ‘Get this one now’ because he’s going to dominate world darts soon,” Humphries said after lifting the trophy. ”He’s an incredible talent. I had to win this one tonight, but he’s going to win plenty, I’m sure.”
The teenager entered the competition having played just four senior matches and ranked tied for 164th in the world
In less than a month since, Littler managed to beat four ranked players including two former world champions (Rob Cross and Raymond van Barneveld), earned over 200,000 Euros (more than $291,586 Cdn.), and jumped to 32nd on the world leaderboard.
“I’m happy, top-32, runner-up on my debut. Unbelievable,” he said.
Despite the loss, fans of the sport should get used to seeing a lot more of Littler in the coming years.
His performance at the world championship and new ranking has earned him a professional tour card for 2024. Littler intends to make use of that as he’s committed himself to a full-time darts career.
He’s also turned into a bit of a social-media sensation throughout his history-making journey. Littler now has over 115,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and nearly 650,000 on Instagram, both numbers jumping significantly during the tournament. He’s captured the attention and admiration of people like English national midfielder James Maddison and notable British sports promoter Eddie Hearn online.
— With files from the Associated Press