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2 days ago
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Tournament stats
Three-dart average
Littler 102.13
Van Gerwen 99.75
Checkout percentage
Littler 41.0
Van Gerwen 43.9
180s
Littler 64
Van Gerwen 43
Highest checkout
Littler 170
Van Gerwen 158
Stats courtesy of the wonderful Darts Orakel
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the PDC World Championship final between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. It’s a dream final between the two greatest 17-year-olds in darts history; what makes it even more tantalising is that one of them is now aged 35.
On 17 February 2007, when Van Gerwen reinforced his reputation as the next genius of darts by hitting a televised nine-darter against Raymond van Barneveld, Littler was 27 days old. Now he’s the phenomenon and Van Gerwen is fighting to stay young and relevant.
Littler is the big story – how can he not be – but this is probably a bigger game for Van Gerwen. When he won the worlds for the first time at the age of 24 (he lost his way for a few years after that initial impact), many felt he would threaten Phil Taylor’s record of 16 world championships. Instead he has been stuck on three titles since beating Michael Smith in 2019. It’s still more than anyone else in the same period, but it’s not the domination that was expected – and that is now assumed of Littler even before he has won his first.
Littler can’t be stopped, only delayed. After surviving a mid-match battering to win last year’s final, Luke Humphries acknowledged as much. “All day, in the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking, ‘Get this won now because he’s gonna dominate world darts soon!’”
Littler is odds-on favourite and leads in most of the big tournament statistics (average, 180s, highest checkout). Van Gerwen is slightly ahead on the doubles, though, and the outer ring is surely his route to victory. Yes, yes, of course it bloody is, he’s not going to finish every leg on the bull is he?
You know what I mean. If the timing of his finishing is as good as it was in the quarter-finals, when he resisted an extended, Littlerian barrage from Callan Rydz, he will probably become a four-time world champion. But if both men males play as they did in the semi-final last night, Littler could win handsomely.
Ach, I haven’t a clue. It should be brilliant, it could be epic, it might even be the greatest match of all time. As neutrals we are guaranteed at least one thing: narrative satisfaction. Either Luke Littler will become champion of the world at the age of 17 or Michael van Gerwen will end six confusing, sometimes miserable years without a world title. May the best genius win.
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Format Best of 13 sets
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Start time 8.15pmish
