| Luke Littler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Luke Littler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Nuke" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 21 January 2007[1] Runcorn, Cheshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Warrington, Cheshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts | 23g Target | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Greenlight" by Pitbull | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO | 2019–2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2023– | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2019– | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 25  (12 June 2024)[2] (PDC)6  3 (14 November 2023)[3] (WDF) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 64: 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 64: 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Youth events
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Medal record
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Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007)[1] is an English professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the current PDC World Youth Champion. He is the youngest player to have won a match in the WDF World Darts Championship and PDC World Darts Championship.
Career
Littler caused a stir at a young age with high averages and thus also raked in youth titles early on. In 2019, he won the England Youth Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Masters youth competition, where he was able to defend his title in 2020. The 2020 JDC tour featured two titles from Littler, who is also signed to partners program "Elite1" organised by Target. Littler won the youth title at the England Open in September 2021 and finished second in the British Pentathlon.
In November 2021, Littler won his first seniors title at the Irish Open defeating Barry Copeland by 6–2 in legs, and thus qualified for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship at the age of 14.[4] At the end of November, during the JDC MVG Masters tournament, he hit a nine-dart finish.[5]
2022
Littler won the JDC Super 16 in Milton Keynes at the end of January 2022, beating Eleanor Cairns in the final.[6] In March 2022, he won the youth competition at the Isle Of Man Open and advanced to the finals of the Isle of Man Classic.[7] At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Littler start as a seeded player from second round and won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2 in sets.[8] He was then beaten 0–3 in sets by Richard Veenstra.[9]
During the Welsh Open warm-up tournament he hit a 121.86 average in one of his matches.[10] A day later, he won another adult tournament in his career. In June 2022, he also won the Romanian Classic, beating Jelle Klaasen in the final by 5–1 in legs. At the 2022 WDF Europe Cup Youth, he won the gold medal in three men's competitions (singles, team and overall). His outstanding achievement was defeating Archie Self in the finals of the singles competition by 6–1 in legs. In the pair competition, together with Archie Self, lost in the semi-finals by 1–4 in legs to Thomas Banks, and Charlie Manby.[11]
At the end of September 2022, he was selected by the national federation to participate in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. On the second day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the pairs competition where he played together with James Hurrell. They lost to Sam Canket and Nick Kenny from Wales by 1–4 in legs.[12] On the third day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles competition, lost to Andy Baetens by 4–5 in legs.[13] In the team competition, he won the gold medal.[14] In the points classification, as a representative of England, he also contributed to won a gold medal.
Littler won the JDC World Darts Championship in London at the end of December 2022, beating Harry Gregory by 5–0 in legs.
2023
In May 2023, Littler won the 3rd series of the MODUS Super Series, defeating Jacob Taylor 4-1 in the final.[15] In August 2023, he won the title for the second time by defeating Colin Osborne by 4 legs to 2 in the final.
In November 2023, Littler beat Gian van Veen in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final. The game ended 6–4.
2024
Littler made his debut at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, where he whitewashed former BDO World champion Christian Kist in the first round.[16] He also broke two records, one for the highest average for a debutant at the World Darts Championship with a 106.12 and the other for being the youngest winner.[17] In the second round, he defeated 2023 UK Open champion Andrew Gilding 3–1;[18][19][20] in the third round, he defeated Matt Campbell 4–1.[21][22][23]
World Championship results
WDF
- 2022: Third round (lost to Richard Veenstra 0–3) (sets)
PDC
- 2024: Ongoing
Performance timeline
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||
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| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||
| World Championship | DNQ | |||||||||
| UK Open | DNQ | 4R | ||||||||
| PDC Non-major televised events | ||||||||||
| World Youth Championship | DNQ | W | ||||||||
| WDF Ranked televised events | ||||||||||
| World Championship | 3R | WD | DNQ | |||||||
| World Masters | 3R | NH | DNQ | |||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | – | |||||||||
References
- ^ a b "Meet Luke Littler: The teen sensation dominating the World Darts Championship". The Economic Times. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
- ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Littler, 15, becomes youngest player to win senior game at WDF World Darts Championship". insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "14-year-old Luke Littler produces stunning nine-dart finish at JDC MVG Masters". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Teenage star Littler wins JDC Super 16 final". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Hurrell, Littler, Hedman and Greaves move into finals at Isle of Man Classic". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "14-year-old Luke Littler qualifies for Lakeside after WDF Irish Open win". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Richard Veenstra sets new record Lakeside average at the WDF World Championship". live-darts.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Littler hits incredible 121.86 average during WDF Welsh Open weekend". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "WDF Europe Cup Youth Results". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ "WDF Europe Cup Men Pairs". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ "WDF Europe Cup Men Singles". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ "WDF Europe Cup Men Teams". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sport/latest_sport/23507356.luke-littler-wins-modus-super-series-champion-champions-series-3/
- ^ "16-year-old Luke Littler destroys former darts world champion Christian Kist 3-0 on Ally Pally debut". SPORTbible. 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ "Sensational 16-year-old Luke Littler averages 106.12 with seven 180s in astonishing victory". Dartsnews.com. 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ "Darts results: Luke Littler beats Andrew Gilding to reach round three of the PDC World Darts Championship". www.sportinglife.com. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ Gill, Samuel (2023-12-21). "16-year-old sensation Luke Littler into third round of PDC World Darts Championship, downs UK Open champion Andrew Gilding". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ "PDC World Championship 2024: Teenager Luke Littler continues his dream debut with win over Andrew Gilding". BBC Sport. 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ Crichard, Kieran (2023-12-27). "Luke Littler, 16, continues £35,000 dream run at Darts World Championship". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ "PDC World Championship 2024: Teenager Luke Littler beats Matt Campbell to reach last 16". BBC Sport. 2023-12-27. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ Wood, Kieran (2023-12-27). "Supreme Luke Littler eases past Matt Campbell and into last 16 at World Darts Championship and possibly meets Raymond van Barneveld in next round". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-12-28.