Luke Littler on the ‘special feeling’ of returning to back-to-back World Darts Championships: ‘My name is on that shortlist’ | Darts News

Luke Littler has hailed the “special feeling” of joining a short and illustrious list of players who have competed back-to-back at the World Darts Championship.

Littler defeated new Dutch number 1 Gian van Veen in the final, winning seven sets in a row to claim a 7–1 victory.

This victory saw him become the fourth consecutive champion alongside Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson. It is also the first since “The Flying Scotsman” achieved the feat in 2016.

Additionally, he joins Taylor, John Part, Lewis, Anderson, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright in winning the biggest prize in all of darts on more than one occasion.

Littler had been open that being the first person to go back in a decade was his main goal before the tournament and he now felt the “special feeling” that few people in the sport will get to experience.

Indeed, he feels like he’ll experience it many more times if he continues to play with his “unstoppable” brand of darts while “hunting down” the majors he still wants to collect.

Littler is also now the holder of the World Championship, UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship titles, is the world number 1 and the first winner of the £1 million prize for his victory at Alexandra Palace.

All that remains is the World Masters and the European Championship to complete the course of the majors.

“It’s incredible. This is what dreams are made of. Everyone wants a first world title, but to come back here and win it again, and go back, it’s incredible,” Littler said.

“Nothing will ever beat a first world title for anyone, in any sport, because it’s the first time you’ve done it. But it was just about holding on to it, bringing it home with me for 12 months and adding my name to the list of world champions to come back to back to back. It’s a very short list, but I’m on it.

“Sometimes on stage I’m unstoppable. I win matches, I lose matches. It’s darts, you don’t always win. But the World Championship is mine again.

“The next major is the World Masters at the end of January which I haven’t had yet. The other majors later in the year I will hunt down.

“It’s a special feeling. It’s all I wanted to do since the World Grand Prix, before the Worlds.

“The million pounds is there, but it comes after the trophy. The trophy always comes first. But my name is on that short list.”

“I expected Gian to throw the kitchen sink at me.”

Littler put in a sensational display in the final with an average of 106.02, 16,180, 19,140, ​​a 46 percent success rate in doubles, seven sets on the spin and a check-out of 147 to seal the victory encapsulating the talent that he is.

It was a level Van Veen simply couldn’t keep up with, with the 18-year-old admitting he expected his opponent to throw more at him and return to the levels he reached against Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson in the quarter and semi-final respectively.

“I definitely played better after that first set. I just want to start fast. I don’t want my opponent to outscore me 1-0,” he added.

“I always want to set that milestone in the game, set the standards, but I couldn’t do it. But after that first set, it was just magical.

“If you play an average of 106 over eight sets, nine times out of 10 you’re going to win. The first Premier League match last year against Michael van Gerwen, that was absolutely magical on our part, and those are matches you’re going to lose.

“Gian was always there. He missed a few doubles. He could have been up 2-0 and it would have changed everything. I would have been more frustrated.

“I expected Gian to throw the kitchen sink at me.”

A little more about the boos: the crowd has been with me ever since!

Littler has faced challenges throughout this tournament, including the boos that followed his comments after his fourth-round victory over Rob Cross.

He had appeared agitated on several occasions and offered multiple impassioned celebrations during an eventful match, with Littler repeating the phrase “now what?” to the crowd after securing his victory in the final stage of the sixth set.

After winning against Cross, Littler turned to the crowd and said, “Am I bothered? Really, am I bothered?! Really not bothered!

“Can I just say one thing? You pay for the tickets and you pay for my prize money, so thank you, thank you for my money! Thank you for booing me. Thank you – come on!”

Following this, Littler faced some boos from the crowd, but then admitted he wanted them back on his side.

It’s a moment that he feels has passed since since then, the public has been almost at his side.

“Obviously they turned on me, but I still won my match, I still advanced to the quarterfinals,” Littler said.

“Everyone wants the crowd on their side. Since this happened, the crowd was on my side, in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and tonight, so big respect to them. They paid their money to cheer me on this time.

“There were a few nervous people this morning when I woke up. Obviously when you look they’re all saying ‘come on’. At one point during the Rob Cross match I looked over and all their heads were down.

“I said, ‘keep your head up because if I look over and you have your head down, it’s not going to help me.’ There wasn’t too much to worry about tonight.”

What’s next?

The 2026 Premier League Darts roster will be revealed on Monday January 5 at 3:30 p.m., live on Sky Sports Newswith the competition format unchanged this season.

The top four finishers on the PDC Order of Merit – Littler, Humphries, Van Veen and Van Gerwen – will be joined by four wild-card picks to complete the roster for a 16-week regular season, contested across the UK and Europe, with the top four in the standings then progressing to finals night at the O2 in London.

Keep up to date with the 2026 darts schedule. You can alsodarts and more top sport with NOW.