Luke Littler is chasing back‑to‑back World Darts Championship titles after booking his place in a third consecutive final, beating Ryan Searle 6–1 on Friday evening. The defending champion is now just one game away from being the first man to retain the Sid Waddell trophy since Gary Anderson did so in 2015 and 2016.
However, Littler’s first set was not all plain sailing, as he fell behind for the first time in the entire tournament when Searle took the opener – and his frustration was clear. As the teenager walked off stage, Sky Sports cameras caught him appearing to mouth a few angry words.
After losing the first set 3–2, Littler looked up and appeared to mouth an expletive in frustration. It was far from an ideal start for Littler, despite him posting the higher average in the opening set – 105.00 to Searle’s 94.50. After the break, the match quickly turned into one‑way traffic.
‘The Nuke’ wasted no time and quickly turned the game around, winning the second set 3-1 – producing a three‑figure average, while Searle could only respond with 90.62. Despite struggling on the doubles early on, Littler made amends in the second set by hitting three of his four checkout attempts.
The fourth set was a show of pure dominance from Littler, who took control of the match and handed Searle an unfamiliar setback, with ‘Heavy Metal’ having never trailed at this year’s World Championship.
The lead soon stretched to 3–1, fuelled by a red‑hot 110.0 average. And the barrage didn’t stop there – at 5–1, the 18‑year‑old brought the crowd to its feet by nailing a 170 checkout, better known as the big fish.
“It feels good to reach the final, I’ve joined another short list of names of players who have had back-to-back-to-back finals,” said Littler. “Now, the only goal is to join the list of people who are back-to-back World Champions. I’ve got every right to think I can do it, but I never, ever say that I am going to win it. We will just see how the darts go.
“I know Gian very well from the Development Tour, we have met a few times on the ProTour and I got the win over him in Minehead in my first World Youth Championship [final in 2023]. He is in absolute freedom, he’s now in the top four of the world – I don’t think he has much to lose.”
A record £1million prize is on the line for this year’s champion.