Luke Littler will aim to move a step closer to World Darts Championship glory on Tuesday night and his path became clearer after tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen crashed out.
The 16-year-old has taken Alexandra Palace by storm and became the youngest semi-finalist ever after he beat Brendan Dolan 5-1 in the quarter-final.
A semi-final against 2018 winner Rob Cross is next up, but he will no longer have to meet Van Gerwen in the final after the three-time champion suffered one of the biggest shocks in recent times, going out 5-3 to unseeded Scott Williams.
It was a new year, but the same old brilliance from the precocious Littler, who is on the cusp of producing one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.
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
The 16-year-old has set the Alexandra Palace tournament alight on debut and is the youngest player ever to reach the last eight after a stunning 4-1 win over his childhood hero Raymond van Barneveld.
He showed maturity and talent way beyond his tender years to get past the five-time world champion, who he used to imitate in front of the television as a three-year-old. He peppered the treble 20 nine times and finished with an emphatic average of 105.01.
‘You’ve got school in the morning’
During Littler’s stunning win against Christian 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.
Can anyone stop Luke Littler?
The teenager believes it is going to “take a lot” to stop his juggernaut. “It feels unbelievable. I would never have thought I would have got to the semis on my debut year,” he said after moving into the semi-finals. “Brendan was just another opponent in my way and I have brushed him aside and now I am into the semi-final.
“It’s going to take a lot to stop me, based on my performances so far. But it is about whatever Luke Littler turns up. I have got the ability to go all the way, if it’s not to be tomorrow night, it’s not to be.
“I know I have got a good chance and I have got a good feeling I could go all the way tomorrow.”
