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Luke Littler scored a historic victory over Michael Van Gerwen to become the youngest world champion.
Littler and Van Gerwen appearing on the show PDC World Championship Finalwith this teenage prodigy looking to beat the former three-time champion to win the Sid Waddell trophy.
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The sport has reached unprecedented new levels in the modern era, and millions of eyes were eager to see if this “tip” or “green car” would make its name in the history books.
Expectations are at an all-time high at Ally Pally, with the second and third players on the PDC Order of Merit to unseat Luke Humphries, who held the title since last year’s victory over Littler.
But it was the 17-year-old meteoric talent who put on one of the most breathtaking displays in Arrows history under the brightest lights.
He became the sport’s youngest world champion as a teenager, seven years before his rival Van Groen won at the age of 24 in 2014 against Peter Wright.
Littler, who turns 18 on January 21, romped to a storming 7-3 victory to claim the £500,000 winners’ prize, completing a remarkable rise in just one year.
He overcame the heartbreak of last year’s first final defeat to Luke Humphreys to cap a hard-to-believe first year on the PDC Tour.
His stardom will no doubt be catapulted into a new stratosphere, and he was clearly delighted to have his first Ally Pally win confirmed.
Littler was in tears as the final 16 doubles came down as he fulfilled his dream of becoming the king of the sport.
It was a surprising and emotional moment for the new superstar, and Van Gerwen was quick to hug the teenager who had completed the feat.
A raucous atmosphere inside the North London venue kicked off the event as the teenage prodigy took to the roaring crowd with his ‘Green Light’.
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Van Gerwen welcomed his support and it all began with laser focus in the eyes of tungsten geniuses.
But it was Littler who produced the strongest flight from the traps in a confident set to take an early lead.
His hot start continued with Uche owning the second set in even more dominant fashion.
Two tens have traditionally been his friend in the tournament and this form continued, taking the set without reply from a stunned and frustrated Van Gerwen.
Her experienced opponent had no answer for her early unbridled scoring power and seemed to run out of steam as the third set approached.
And despite dropping a leg, Littler once again scored a double ten to take the third set and command a 3-0 lead.
It looked like he could barely miss it and Van Gerwen began to need an immediate response to halt his remarkable momentum.
The writing was on the wall for the Dutchman as Littler didn’t stop there and appeared to have one hand on the cup in the fourth set.
He once again picked it up in sensational fashion, but on the ensuing set Van Gerwen was able to stop the rot from nailing the trademark 132 to put his name on the board.
Littler got his nose in front again with a brilliant sixth set and at 5-1 it all looked ominous, but Van Gerwen hit back in survival mode to keep things honest at 5-2.
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But the killer blow came in the eighth set when he was again clinical on his doubles and looked to have put the match on the brink.
Van Gerwen managed to pull back once more, but still felt that Littler had not reached any level of satisfaction.
Littler completed the match with a sensational double 16 and went all the way down the field, barely able to process his victory.
He wiped away tears of joy as Van Gerwen welcomed him and his path to the pinnacle of British sport was complete.
“I can’t believe it. We both played really well,” Littler said after his win.
“I’ve said in interviews that I have to start fast tonight and that’s what I did.
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But he was behind me the whole game, those layups — he’d make two triples and I’d have to come back with two or three.
“Everyone dreams of winning this trophy. You have to go through a tough field. I can’t believe it.
I’m going to keep talking about this, but the first match against Ryan Mikel (in the second round) was really important, and I’ve been coming to that the whole time.
“At 2-0 (in the final set) I started to get nervous, but I told myself to calm down.
More to follow…
