Luke Littler

Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is an English professional darts player who currently plays in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events as well as in the PDC Development tour. He is the youngest player who won a match in the WDF World Darts Championship.

Luke Littler
Personal information
Full nameLuke Littler
Nickname"The Nuke"
Born (2007-01-21) 21 January 2007
Runcorn, Cheshire, England
Home townWarrington, Cheshire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since2017
Darts23g Target
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Greenlight" by Pitbull
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2019–2020
WDF2019–
Current world ranking158 Decrease 2 (21 October 2023)[1] (PDC)
3 Steady (6 October 2022)[2] (WDF)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 2022
World MastersLast 64: 2022
PDC premier events – best performances
UK OpenLast 64: 2023
Other tournament wins
British Internationals 2022
Irish Open 2021
Isle of Man Classic 2023
Romanian Classic 2022
PDC Development Tour 2023 (x5)
Welsh Open 2022
UK Open Qualifier 2023
Modus Super Series 3 Champion of Champions 2023
Modus Super Series 4 Champion of Champions 2023
British Classic 2023
British Open 2023

Youth events

JDC World Ch'ship 2022
World Youth Masters 2022
British Classic 2021
British Internationals 2022
England Open 2021, 2022
Irish Open 2021
Isle of Man Youth 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
Welsh Classic Youth 2021, 2022
Welsh Open 2021, 2022
JDC Tour 2020 (x2)
JDC Super 16 2021, 2022
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  England
WDF Europe Cup
Gold medal – first place 2022 Gandía Men's team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Gandía Men's overall
WDF Europe Cup Youth
Gold medal – first place 2022 Budapest Boys singles
Gold medal – first place 2022 Budapest Boys team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Budapest Boys overall
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Budapest Boys pairs

Career

Littler caused a stir at a young age with high averages and thus also raked in youth titles early on. In 2019, he won the England Youth Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Masters youth competition, where he was able to defend his title in 2020. The 2020 JDC tour featured two titles from The Nuke, who is also signed to partners program "Elite1" organised by Target. Littler won the youth title at the England Open in September 2021 and finished second in the British Pentathlon.

In November 2021, Littler won his first seniors title at the Irish Open defeating Barry Copeland by 6–2 in legs, and thus qualified for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship at the age of 14.[3] At the end of November, during the JDC MVG Masters tournament, he hit a nine-dart finish.[4]

Littler won the JDC Super 16 in Milton Keynes at the end of January 2022, beat Eleanor Cairns in the final.[5] In March 2022, he won the youth competition at the Isle Of Man Open and adavnced to the finals of the Isle of Man Classic.[6] At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Littler start as a seeded player from second round and won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2 in sets.[7] He was then beaten 0–3 in sets by Richard Veenstra.[8]

During the Welsh Open warm-up tournament he hit a 121.86 average in one of his matches.[9] A day later, he won another adult tournament in his career. In June 2022, he also won the Romanian Classic, beating Jelle Klaasen in the final by 5–1 in legs. At the 2022 WDF Europe Cup Youth, he won the gold medal in three men's competitions (singles, team and overall). His outstanding achievement was be defeating Archie Self in the finals of the singles competition by 6–1 in legs. In the pair competition, together with Archie Self, lost in the semi-finals by 1–4 in legs to Thomas Banks and Charlie Manby.[10]

At the end of September 2022, he was selected by the national federation to participate in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. On the second day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the pairs competition where he played together with James Hurrell. They lost to Sam Cankett and Nick Kenny from Wales by 1–4 in legs.[11] On the third day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles competition, lost to Andy Baetens by 4–5 in legs.[12] In the team competition, he won the gold medal.[13] In the points classification, as a representative of England, he also contributed to won a gold medal.

Littler won the JDC World Darts Championship 2022 in London at the end of December 2022, beating Harry Gregory by 5–0 in legs.

In May 2023, Littler won the 3rd series of the MODUS Super Series, defeating Jacob Taylor 4-1 in the final.[14] In August 2023, he won the title for the second time by defeating Colin Osborne by 4 legs to 2 in the final.

World Championship results

WDF

PDC

  • 2024:

Performance timeline

Tournament20222023
PDC Ranked televised events
UK Open DNQ 4R
WDF Ranked televised events
World Championship 3R
World Masters 3R

References

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