After his heroics at last year’s World Championships, teen sensation Luke Littler has taken darts to a stratospheric level of popularity. But can he channel this pressure into a winning run at the Palace?
As November turns to December and the carols begin, the lights go up, and Mariah Carey steps out of her cryo-freezer, it can only mean one thing…
The Dart’s World Championship is here.
It’s fair to say that for the PDC, last year’s World Championship was an unmitigated success, and it was all down to one man, or should I say boy?
Luke Littler created a media frenzy around both himself and the Dart’s Championship he was taking by storm. One by one the opposition fell, and with each victory, Littler found himself not just on the back pages but front and centre of every newspaper in the country.
His magnificent run saw the 16-year-old reach the final, only before losing to the man destined to become his long-term rival, his namesake, and the now world number 1, Luke Humphries. Once the dust had settled, the questions surrounding Littler were whether he could back up this form with anything meaningful in the rest of 2024.
Boy, oh boy, did he deliver.
Not only has Littler continued to secure astonishing brand deals that have netted him obscene amounts of money for someone his age, but he has backed this up with exceptional results on the pro circuit.
Since reaching the final in 2024, Littler has won two major PDC events, most recently the World Series of Darts, where he rattled off 15 consecutive legs to win. But perhaps most impressively, the Premier League, where he got revenge on Humphries in the final. Littler now goes into the 2025 tournament as the favourite at around 2/1 with a lot of bookmakers. But could all the noise surrounding the young man prove a distraction?
His form this year suggests no, but Littler has just signed a massive sponsorship deal with X-Box. Like most superstars who make it young, there is always the chance of distraction when money is coming in regardless of the success you are having in your sport. Littler is without a doubt one of the best players in the world, and his run to the final was no fluke, but winning the World Championships is immensely hard compared to other darts tournaments, and he has not been handed a favourable draw.
Littler will be the fourth seed in this year’s tournament, meaning he finds himself in the same quarter as 2018 champion Rob Cross, as well as two-time semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall. But perhaps most concerningly for Littler will be that his seeding means his semi-final opponent (should he reach that stage) will be Luke Humphries.
Entertainingly, first up for Littler will be the winner of Ryan Meikle or a former favourite of the Palace, Fallon Sherrock. Littler vs. Sherrock would be a spectacle to say the least and would be interesting to see who the crowd decides to get behind. It will be a huge task for Luke Littler to claim the Sid Wadell trophy at only the second time of asking. Whilst he is undoubtedly a special player, I still favour Humphries, especially in this format.
So, we know about Littler and Humphries, but who else is in with a chance at this year’s Championships?
The second and third seeds respectively are the finalists from 2023, Michael Smith and Michael Van Gerwen. Despite their high ranks, both players (Smith in particular) have massively underachieved this year. Since winning the title in 2023, Michael Smith has found tournament victories hard to come by. He did, however, pick up the World Cup of Darts with Luke Humphries earlier this year.
Van Gerwen’s dip in form is slightly more excusable due to the fact that he underwent a pretty intense operation on his jaw. Despite their drops in form in 2024, both players have valuable experience of winning the Worlds, and this can never be overlooked.
Speaking of experience, there is perhaps no man more used to the Ally Pally stage than Gary Anderson. Despite his age, the ‘Flying Scotsman’ has enjoyed a very successful year on tour and boasts the highest average of any player (99.06). Anderson is already a two-time champion at Ally Pally and will be quietly confident that he can capitalise on this form, despite not having won a high-ranking PDC event since 2018. At 11/1, his odds look good.
In terms of other players to keep an eye out for, Mike de Decker shocked the world when he defeated Humphries in the final of the World Grand Prix. De Decker is an extremely talented player who is in with an excellent chance of succeeding. De Decker demonstrated excellent double hitting en route to Grand Prix victory, which is the circuit's only double in double out format. At around 28/1 he is great value and already has experience of lifting a major title in 2024.
I’d like to throw another name into the mix of potential champions, which is Stephen Bunting. Bunting always seems to put together a good run at Alley Pally and lifted the Masters title back in February. It feels strange to say, but with lots of players, you can just tell that they don’t have a big enough game to win the World Championships. Bunting is not one of these players. On several occasions the ‘Bullet’ has demonstrated that, when on song, very few players in the world can compete with him. It’s a long shot, but I think at 40/1, Bunting is a great option.
Overall, Littler will dominate the talk surrounding the competition, but it should be remembered that the quality of darts has been steadily increasing over the year. Last year’s tournament saw a record number of 180s, and I have no doubt that this year’s competition will deliver even more. With such a large number of quality players, dart’s sparkling prodigy may find it harder than a lot of people think to lift the most coveted trophy in darts.
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