The Nuke blew his opponent away within the World Championship closing – however can darts survive one other period of solo dominance?
Luke Littler gained back-to-back world titles on the 2026 World Championship (Picture: Getty)
It was the result all people anticipated, however the match no person wished. A dominant show from Luke Littler on the Ally Pally stage noticed the mercurial Gian van Veen put to the sword by the world No.1. From an leisure viewpoint no less than, it was a considerably sleepy finish to what had been a sensational World Darts Championship.
From the heroics of David Munyua and Motomu Sakai in spherical one, to Justin Hood’s quarter-final run, with the James Wade vs Ricky Evans traditional sandwiched between, the 2026 Worlds will probably be remembered as the most effective in a very long time. That’s, in fact, till the ultimate.
It’s not Littler’s fault he’s head and shoulders (after which some) higher than the remainder of the sphere. However after one other World Championship win for the Nuke, the place it didn’t appear like he ever actually needed to get out of third gear, it’s solely pure that conversations surrounding the competitiveness of the game have begun to pop up.
World No.2 Luke Humphries has finished an exquisite job at preserving tempo with Littler throughout the final two years, however within the present order of benefit, the 2024 world champion is at present nearer to zero than he’s to the indomitable teen. That raises a separate query concerning the legitimacy of the present rating system following the prize cash will increase for the World Championship, but it surely paints a really clear image… no person can, or seemingly will, get near Littler for a really, very very long time.
After all, it isn’t the primary time darts has handled an period of solo dominance. Phil Taylor reached a whopping 14 finals in a row between 1994 and 2007, which means Littler has some method to go if he’s to equal that exact document. The irony is although, Littler’s affect on the game has shifted the goalposts on the subject of consideration and interactions with darts, and whereas the Warrington-born ace wiping the ground with opponents garnered loads of consideration to start with, followers are fickle and the novelty may quickly put on off.
There have been indicators of this through the fourth spherical match in opposition to Rob Cross, when pockets of the Ally Pally crowd started jeering Littler after he’d clicked into gear and shrugged off the problem of the 2018 world champion. Every particular person motive cannot be identified, and whereas respecting gamers ought to be thought-about a non-negotiable so far as crowd behaviour is anxious, it was an eyebrow raiser for a lot of, together with Littler, who, regardless of agency protestation, definitely was bothered by the hostile therapy.
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You both die a hero, or reside lengthy sufficient to see your self turn out to be the enemy, and after two years of virtually unmatched dominance, Littler may very well be about to enter his villain period.
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