Luke Humphries wins World Darts Championship as Luke Littler, 16, falls short

ALEXANDRA PALACE — Never has an ending felt more like a beginning. The sense of a seismic shift in the sporting order is unavoidable, the feeling everything has changed inescapable. This may not have been Luke Littler’s World Championship, but it’s now Luke Littler’s world. His legend has permeated through the darting ether and into the real world, into a vast, fickle realm it can now never escape.

In the end, it took the best player in the world to defeat Littler, playing the best darts in the world. The Prince of the Palace couldn’t yet become king, but there is still time.

Does defeat really change anything for Littler? Maybe it’s for the best. It leaves our boy wonder something to achieve, allows the story somewhere to go from here, leaves Littler and the fans and the content machine wanting more. Seventeen-year-old Luke Littler winning the World Championship is nowhere near as interesting if 16-year-old Luke Littler has already managed it. Don’t cry Alexander, there are still worlds to conquer. And anyway, you’re now world No 31 and have just pocketed £200,00.

Luke Humphries is not just a deserving winner, but a worthy one. He’s often derided as dull for simply focussing on himself, having no thrills, no frills, no trademarks or signature moves or stage persona. When he bemoans his failings, he does it for himself. When he celebrates, he does it for himself. He’s said before he focuses on keeping his adrenaline levels down to stave off nerves. Coming face-to-face with Littlermania will only have given him more space to breathe, to play his own game, to be “Cool Hand” Luke.

Humphries has always been gifted, but he’s still had to work for this. He didn’t win a TV major until three months ago, despite trying for four years, and has now won four. Littler was world youth champion at 16, Humphries at 24. He was a roofer until he was 23, following his father and brother. He’s lost four-and-a-half stone in recent years and has spoken well about handling anxiety attacks which led him to temporarily quit darts in 2019.  In any other year, against any other opponent, this would have been the nation’s darling winning the Sid Waddell Trophy and £500,000.

Yet Littler waltzed out to adulation and adoration, Humphries to boos and whistles. The younger man stood facing the board, unable to watch the new world No 1 weave his path to the stage.

Littler has stressed throughout the tournament that the pressure is always on his opponents, that he simply doesn’t feel it, even that this is easy. But at some point the crushing weight of expectation always becomes so heavy you simply cannot ignore it any longer. Littler wasn’t just playing for himself, or his family, or his partner. He has become the darling of the darting world and well beyond. This meant something.

Against Rob Cross, Littler started well and still fell behind. Against Humphries, he started poorly and was duly punished. He averaged 89 in the first leg. He had seven trebleless visits within the first three legs. In the fourth leg, he hit the treble 20 twice, then the third didn’t come. He paused for thought, then could only find the single. Something was disrupting his natural rhythm. He was disrupting his natural rhythm.

As he has throughout the tournament, Littler stayed on stage between sets while Humphries went off, gradually acclimatising, refitting his cloak, attempting to readjust his crown.

At first, it appeared futile. Humphries reached five consecutive legs. But the warning signs started to appear. He rediscovered his treble 19. He hit his second 180. Then the big finishes came – first 120, then 142. A pump of the arms, then a move that unmistakeably said “calm down”, both to himself and his adoring crowd. Set two, Luke Littler. Was it happening?

The match continued to undulate, to jink and jag, ebb and flow. Humphries broke Littler, Littler broke right back. The Nuke went 4-2 up, then Humphries averaged 113,114 and 109 to re-establish a lead he never lost. They both hit 170 checkouts. Humphries hit 23 180s and averaged 103, winning five consecutive sets. This was a victory truly earned. 

Littlermania has happened gradually enough to captivate a nation, yet quickly enough to keep its attention. The domestic TV numbers have been extraordinary. The Prince of the Palace has become the Prince of the People.

The previous record high for any TV darts event was 1.65m, when Gary Anderson beat Phil Taylor in the final here in 2015. Littler’s semi-final peaked at 2.32m, beating any moment of last year’s Ashes or Ryder Cup. My mum’s been watching. Viewers care about Littler, so now they care about darts. Turning this into sustainable growth is the next challenge.

Many successful sportspeople never have to buy a drink again, but Littler now won’t be able to buy one for over a year. He’s as famously 16 as Pele was 17, as Nadia Comaneci was 14, as Adrian Mole was 13 3/4.

The Flintstones, James Maddison and a full set of human skittles made the pilgrimage to the People’s Palace to watch the coronation, and the wonder they witnessed was beyond even their most unbridled fantasy.

They came in their Hawaiian shirts and their flares, in their comedy mohawks and their hard hats, in their horse outfits with accompanying jockeys. They came from Germany, Holland, France, Ireland, through TV sets across the nation and the world. They will be back, and so will Luke Littler. This is only beginning.