Luke Littler thrashed Gian van Veen to win the PDC World Darts title for the second successive year in front of a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd on Saturday.
The 18-year-old dropped the first set in the best-of-13-set showdown but hit back to stamp his authority on Van Veen who had no answer to Litter’s relentless scoring.
World number one Littler never looked troubled, apart from during the brief appearance of a wasp, banging in 180s and high checkouts as he wrapped up a 7-1 victory to claim the one million pounds first prize. He is the first player to win back-to-back titles since Scotland’s Gary Anderson in 2016.
Littler’s victory charge was briefly interrupted during a dazzling spell of nine successive legs as the board needed to be replaced after Van Veen cut his hand and left a small blob of blood on the surface.
World Darts Championship schedule and results
Kim Huybrechts 1-3 Arno Merk
Michael Smith 3-0 Lisa Ashton
Luke Littler 3-0 Darius Labanauskas
Madars Razma 3-1 Jamai van den Herik
Niels Zonneveld 3-0 Haupai Puha
Ian White 3-2 Mervyn King
Ryan Searle 3-0 Chris Landman
Ross Smith 2-3 Andreas Harrysson
Ricky Evans 3-0 Man Lok Leung
Gian van Veen 3-1 Cristo Reyes
Damon Heta 3-1 Steve Lennon
Mario Vandenbogaerde 0-3 David Davies
Andrew Gilding 3-1 Cam Crabtree
Luke Woodhouse 3-1 Boris Krcmar
Gary Anderson 3-2 Adam Hunt
Jeffrey de Graaf 1-3 Paul Lim
Wessel Nijman 3-0 Karel Sedlacek
Luke Humphries 3-1 Ted Evetts
Gabriel Clemens 3-0 Alex Spellman
Ritchie Edhouse 0-3 Jonny Tata
Dom Taylor 3-0 Oskar Lukasiak
Richard Veenstra 2-3 Nitin Kumar
Joe Cullen 3-0 Bradley Brooks
Lukas Wenig 1-3 Wesley Plaisier
Dimitri Van den Bergh 0-3 Darren Beveridge
Stephen Bunting 3-2 Sebastian Bialecki
James Hurrell 3-1 Stowe Buntz
Brendan Dolan 3-1 Tavis Dudeney
Cameron Menzies 2-3 Charlie Manby
Mensur Suljovic 3-1 David Cameron
Peter Wright 3-0 Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Martin Lukeman 1-3 Max Hopp
Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-2 Andy Baetens
Jonny Clayton 3-1 Adam Lipscombe
Connor Scutt 3-2 Simon Whitlock
Alan Soutar 3-2 Teemu Harju
Nick Kenny 0-3 Justin Hood
Scott Williams 3-0 Paolo Nebrida
Chris Dobey 3-1 Xiaochen Zong
Ricardo Pietreczko 3-1 Jose de Sousa
Danny Noppert 3-1 Jurjen van der Velde
Gerwyn Price 3-0 Adam Gawlas
Niko Springer 1-3 Joe Comito
Matt Campbell 1-3 Adam Sevada
Raymond van Barneveld 0-3 Stefan Bellmont
James Wade 3-0 Ryusei Azemoto
Martin Schindler 3-1 Stephen Burton
Callan Rydz 3-0 Patrik Kovacs
Thibault Tricole 0-3 Motomu Sakai
Ryan Joyce 3-0 Owen Bates
Mike De Decker 2-3 David Munyua
Jermaine Wattimena 3-2 Dominik Gruellich
Dave Chisnall 3-0 Fallon Sherrock
Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
Krzysztof Ratajski 3-0 Alexis Toylo
Kevin Doets 3-1 Matthew Dennant
Ryan Meikle 3-0 Jesus Salate
Mickey Mansell 2-3 Leonard Gates
Josh Rock 3-1 Gemma Hayter
William O’Connor 3-0 Krzysztof Kciuk
Daryl Gurney 3-2 Beau Greaves
Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Lourence Ilagan
Keane Barry 3-0 Tim Pusey
Ryan Searle 3-0 Brendan Dolan
Andreas Harrysson 3-0 Motomu Sakai
Dirk van Duijvenbode 2-3 James Hurrell
Dave Chisnall 2-3 Ricardo Pietreczko
Michael Smith 1-3 Niels Zonneveld
Chris Dobey 1-3 Andrew Gilding
Stephen Bunting 3-0 Nitin Kumar
Jonny Clayton bye Dom Taylor
Luke Littler 3-0 David Davies
Joe Cullen 1-3 Mensur Suljovic
Damon Heta 3-2 Stefan Bellmont
Luke Woodhouse 3-0 Max Hopp
Gerwyn Price 0-3 Wesley Plaisier
Ryan Joyce 0-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Martin Schindler 3-0 Keane Barry
Darren Beveridge 1-3 Madars Razma
Wessel Nijman 0-3 Gabriel Clemens
David Munyua 0-3 Kevin Doets
James Wade 2-3 Ricky Evans
Gian van Veen 3-1 Alan Soutar
Nathan Aspinall 3-0 Leonard Gates
Luke Humphries 3-0 Paul Lim
Charlie Manby 3-0 Adam Sevada
Jonny Tata 2-3 Ryan Meikle
Daryl Gurney 2-3 Callan Rydz
Jermaine Wattimena 3-2 Scott Williams
Peter Wright 0-3 Arno Merk
Danny Noppert 2-3 Justin Hood
Gary Anderson 3-1 Connor Scutt
Michael van Gerwen 3-1 William O’Connor
Wesley Plaisier 3-4 Kryzsztof Ratajski
Andrew Gilding 1-4 Luke Woodhouse
Jonny Clayton 4-3 Niels Zonneveld
Andreas Harrysson 4-2 Ricardo Pietreczko
Stephen Bunting 3-4 James Hurrell
Luke Littler 4-0 Mensur Suljovic
Martin Schindler 0-4 Ryan Searle
Gary Anderson 4-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Gian van Veen 4-1 Madars Razma
Luke Humphries 4-2 Gabriel Clemens
Michael van Gerwen 4-1 Arno Merk
Justin Hood 4-1 Ryan Meikle
Ricky Evans 2-4 Charlie Manby
Nathan Aspinall 3-4 Kevin Doets
Josh Rock 4-1 Callan Rydz
Luke Littler 4-2 Rob Cross
Luke Woodhouse 2-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Jonny Clayton 4-2 Andreas Harrysson
Justin Hood 4-0 Josh Rock
Charlie Manby 1-4 Gian van Veen
Michael van Gerwen 1-4 Gary Anderson
Luke Humphries 4-1 Kevin Doets
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Ryan Searle 5-2 Jonny Clayton
Gary Anderson 5-2 Justin Hood
Luke Littler 5-0 Krzysztof Ratajski
Luke Humphries 1-5 Gian van Veen
Luke Littler 6-1 Ryan Searle
Gian van Veen 6-3 Gary Anderson
How to watch the World Darts Championship
TV channel: The tournament is being broadcast in full on Sky Sports.
Every session is available to watch live on Sky Sports Darts, with some sessions also shown on Sky Sports Main Event.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers will also be able to watch on a live stream online through the Sky Go app.
