Luke Littler: 2024 in Review

When the year began, Luke Littler was seen as just a promising young darts player. Fresh off his Youth Championship title, he found himself in the World Darts Championship quarter-finals on the very first day of 2024.

Earlier in the tournament, he had stated that he would be thrilled just to return after Christmas.

“It’s been unbelievable. Like I’ve said, I just wanted to win one game, come back after Christmas, and that was it. That’s the only goals I set. So, this is just a massive, massive bonus.”

Yet, not long after, he was stepping onto the brightly lit stage at Alexandra Palace for the final against Luke Humphries.

While the ending of that story wasn’t quite the fairy tale he had hoped for, the rest of the year has been nothing short of magical for 'The Nuke.'

Join us on a review of Luke's extraordinary 2024, the tournaments he has won and the stats behind the teenage sensation's breakout year.

World Darts Championship 2024.

With the 2024 World Championship reaching its final, the darting world watched in anticipation, wondering if the then 16-year-old could win the big one.

Unfortunately, Littler couldn't make that dream come true, but life for the teenage darts phenomenon and the sport of darts was about to change massively. Read the extensive breakdown of what happened in the World Championship 2024.

Bahrain Darts Masters.

The Littler star continued to rise in January with the Warrington-born arrow smith stunned audiences with his first ever televised nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall. In the final, he got the best of Michael van Gerwen in the final of the Bahrain Darts Masters to pick up his first World Series of Darts win.

Here are the stats from that game.

First Player Championship.

As he gained a PDC Tour Card for 2024, Littler debuted in the PDC Players Championship. In increasingly typical Littler fashion, the newly 17-year-old hit another 9-darter and won on his debut in the PDC Players Championship.

Littler defeated Jim Williams, Luke Woodhouse, Michele Turetta, Cameron Menzies, James Hurrell, Alan Soutar and Ryan Searle in the final to claim his maiden Players Championship.

Belgian Darts Open.

Littler qualified for this first European Tour event through Tour Card Holder qualifiers and never looked back.

Luke survived an early scare with a narrow 6-5 win over Jose de Sousa and then went on to beat Krzysztof Ratajski in the second round 6-3.

The next round saw Littler face Damon Heta in a rematch of the UK Open quarter-final in which Heta won. Unlike the UK Open, the 17-year-old won 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Littler then averaged 110 to defeat Jermaine Wattimena 6-2.

Now in the semi-finals, Littler put on a comfortable display in a 7-3 win against Ricardo Pietreczko to reach his first European final on his debut. Littler narrowly defeated Rob Cross 8-7 in the final, hitting his third nine-dart finish of the year en route to his victory.

Here are the match Stats:

First Premier League Win.

After 8 long weeks of many semi-finals and tight games, Luke Littler won his first Premier League night in Belfast against Nathan Aspinall.

This would lead to ‘The Nuke’ winning another three nights and collecting the most points in his debut campaign to make the final.

Austrian Darts Winner.

The year of Luke Littler continued as he scored an irresistible best in Austria having navigated a tough draw beating the likes of Damon Heta, Danny Noppert, Ross Smith and Joe Cullen in the final.

In the final he put on a scoring clinic against Joe Cullen, averaging 102 compared to Cullen’s 85-match average.

See the match stats here.

Premier League Darts Winner.

After 16 weeks of the best darts players in the world playing each other, it came to an end in Sheffield with Luke Littler coming top of the pile with 40 points and equalling a tournament-best point total.

With his place secured for the finals, it was time for Littler to shine. The 17-year-old was amazing throughout the whole night, defeating 2023 World Champion Michael Smith 10-5 and setting up a rematch of the 2024 World Championship final against Luke Humphries.

The match was finely poised between the pair with each taking it in turns to win a set. After the break Littler showed his class as he threw his fourth 9-darter of the year and moving forward to comfortably beat Humphries 11-7 and win his first Premier League of Darts title.

Here are ‘The Nukes’ final stats against Luke Humphries:

Poland Darts Masters Winner.

Despite England’s struggles in the Euros, there were no signs of a hangover from Luke's Premier League win.

On route to the final Littler played a thrilling semi-final against Michael Smith narrowly winning 7-6 and dominating in the earlier rounds against Peter Wright and Adam Gawlas.

Littler then put on a spectacular display in the World Series of Darts for the Poland Darts Masters and defeated good friend Rob Cross 8-3 in the final.

World Series of Darts.

Littler produced a series of scintillating displays on Finals Day at AFAS Live as the teenager racked up another TV crown in an increasingly impressive and unprecedented first year as a professional.

Having defeated Chris Dobey 10-7 in the afternoon's quarterfinals, Littler dismantled five-time champion and Dutch crowd favourite Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals, winning 11-4 with a 107.95 average.

That display included a stunning nine successive legs without Van Gerwen being afforded a dart at a double as he came from 4-2 down to power into the final.

Littler then produced his third ton-plus average of the day in the final as he brushed aside another former World Champion in Smith by the same scoreline to win the World Series of Darts 2024.

Grand Slam of Darts.

Littler powered past Martin Lukeman 16-3 to clinch his maiden televised ranking title in the West Midlands, after coming through a semi-final epic against Gary Anderson earlier in the day.

The 17-year-old also defeated Keane Barry, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Lourence Ilagan, Mike De Decker and Jermaine Wattimena in Wolverhampton, boasting a staggering tournament average of 104.99; the third highest ever.

Littler’s Grand Slam of Darts victory at WV Active Aldersley catapults him to fifth on the PDC Order of Merit – a remarkable achievement for a player who only began his professional career in January.

Players Championship Final.

In another all Luke final, it was Humphries who managed to retain his Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals title against Luke Littler as the pair met for the third time in a final in 2024.

Littler and Humphries both began to slow down as the match progressed, but Humphries seized the initiative, taking a commanding 4-1 lead. Littler fought valiantly, but the slow start proved too much to overcome. Despite this, Littler will head into the World Darts Championship feeling confident as the number 4 seed.

World Darts Championship 2025.

Luke Littler has had a tremendous year, so much so that it has even earned 'The Nuke' a chance at winning Sports Personality of the Year 2024.

With plenty of records broken and titles won, he now faces the challenge of the very tournament that kick-started his 2024 momentum.

Keep up to date with the World Darts Championship 2025 and follow Luke Littler to see how he concludes a momentous 2024 and begins 2025.