Meet Luke Littler – the 16-year-old darts prodigy lighting up the World Championship
Luke Littler beat Christian Kist on his World Championship debut (PA Wire)
Teenager Luke Littler continued his dream PDC World Championship debut by defeating Andrew Gilding to reach the third round.
The 16-year-old was the toast of Alexandra Palace after beating Christian Kist on Wednesday and he was at it again 24 hours later with a 3-1 success against 20th seed Gilding.
The UK Open champion is 37 years older than Littler but it was the youngster showing the greater composure in the first two sets, with Gilding twice missing a pair of darts at double in the second.
Littler suffered a blip in the third but Gilding was unable to take his opportunities and the teenager clinched a spot in the last 32 against Matt Campbell.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Littler said: “When I went 2-0 up, I lost all my energy. When Andrew got the set back I was just thinking, ‘Just try and win it’, because I don’t want to go 2-2 on this stage. I was nervous as it is. I don’t know how I got over the line but I’ve done it.”
Sweet 16
Littler was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, on January 21, 2007 and began playing darts aged nine. He won the England Youth Grand Prix in 2019 and began to rack up tournament wins.
He became England Youth Open champion in 2021 and won his first senior title at the Irish Open later that year.
In 2022 he won the Welsh Open and this year notched further senior titles at the Isle of Man Classic, Gibraltar Open, British Open and British Classic.
Bookies take heed
After his impressive victory on the biggest stage against Kist on Wednesday night – Littler hit seven 180s and averaged a monstrous 106.12 – the teenager spoke of his pride at making the highest average on debut at the World Darts Championship.
He made 50 per cent of his doubles during an electric display that has seen his odds to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy slashed to 14-1, making him seventh favourite.
‘You’ve got school in the morning’
During Littler’s stunning win against Kist, a full house at Alexandra Palace erupted into a chorus of ‘You’ve got school in the morning’ and the Warrington-based teenager responded by pumping his chest as he revelled in the atmosphere.
His performance was not, however, a complete shock. His breakthrough year in 2023, in which he also won the Gibraltar Open and the PDC World Youth Championship, saw him installed as a heavy 3-10 favourite to beat Kist.
‘Everybody Take a Shot’
Littler’s walk-on music at Alexandra Palace is Greenlight by American rapper Pitbull and features the lyrics “Red light, green light, everybody take a shot. Red light, green light, give me everything you got”.
It was released in 2016 as the second single off Pitbull’s 10th studio album Climate Change and the video, filmed in Miami, has over 99 million views on YouTube.
Favourite to progress
Next up for the darts prodigy is a second-round clash at Alexandra Palace on Thursday night against 53-year-old Andrew Gilding, from Ipswich.
Gilding won the Cazoo UK Open in Minehead earlier this year when he beat Michael van Gerwen 11–10 in a last-leg decider and is currently 20th in the PDC rankings, but despite Gilding’s obvious experience advantage, Littler is 1-4 favourite to progress through to the third round.