Key events
Van Gerwen wins the bull and will throw first
I think thatâs quite important, though I reserve the right to delete this entire entry if Littler wins the first set.
Start time
As I said all along, itâll be around 8.15pmish. Iâm off to get a coffee and a cold flannel, after which itâll be time to watch two geniuses assault treble 20.
âI suspect Iâm pretty much alone in expecting a runaway winner tonight,â writes Gary Naylor. âWatching the excellent Robbie Williams biopic on Tuesday (bear with me now) reminded me of the power of Impostor Syndrome.
âDarts is a psychological battle and both players will have strong voices in their heads if they go a couple of sets down: âIâm not ready for this after allâ; âIâm past it, have been for yearsâ. Silencing the internal chimp when it starts whispering those thoughts will surely be the deciding factor.â
I donât expect a runaway winner but it wouldnât shock me if Littler averaged 108 and won 7-2 or 7-3. The bull could be really important in terms of psychological momentum. Littler can be a brutal frontrunner so MvG would love to throw first, take the first set without drama and see what happens.
Itâs also worth noting that only one of the last eight finals has gone to 12 sets, never mind 13. These are the scores: 7-3, 7-2, 7-3, 7-3, 7-3, 7-5, 7-4, 7-4.
Finally, what is Imposter Syndrome? I have never heard of this concept and it certainly is not squatting in my subconscious.
This has been an excellent World Championship â not the best yet, but still a cracker. There has been one huge negative, though: the absence of Wayne Mardle, a man whose expertise, charisma, enthusiasm, generosity of spirit and facility with language enrich every single game on which he commentates.
Mardle has been absent from Skyâs coverage due to the tragic death of his wife Donna, aged just 52, on the eve of the tournament. We wonât hear his voice tonight, but letâs hope we have another âI canât spakeâ moment.
From the archive: sporting prodigies
There are some superb entries here, none better than Georgina Turnerâs on Martina Hingis.
The best that most of us can hope for from the year we turn 16 is a decent set of exam results and a dinner out at TGI Fridays (milkshakes allowed). Hingis, meanwhile, competed in all four grand slam singles finals, winning three of them
The head-to-head record is Littler 6-6 Van Gerwen. MvG won the biggest game to date, scrapping to a 10-6 win in the first round of the Matchplay, but since then Littler has won their two games by a combined score of 17-5.
Today in Focus podcast
Ever since the then 16-year-old Luke Littler stormed to the final of the World Darts Championship last year, Britain has gone darts mad.
Tickets for this yearâs tournament sold out in record time. Today in Focus presenter Helen Pidd and producer Tom Glasser were lucky enough to get two, and they went along to see what the fuss is all about.
Guardian sports writer and darts fan Jonathan Liew is Helenâs guide to the world of arrows, preparing her for the sights and sounds of Alexandra Palace in full swing â and the prospect of witnessing a perfect set of darts, a nine-dart finish, or âthe closest thing you get to a biblical miracle in a sporting contextâ.
Darts has travelled far beyond the pub to become a worldwide sport, and Saudi Arabia is now vying to host a future competition. But will Helen fall in love with the game?
What tonight means for the world rankings
Itâs pretty simple. If Littler wins, this will be the top three.
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Luke Humphries
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Luke Littler
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Michael van Gerwen
And if Van Gerwen wins, this will be the top three.
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Luke Humphries
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Michael van Gerwen
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Luke Littler
Rob Cross will stay fourth regardless of the result.
Read Jonathan Liew on semi-final night
Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen: turns out this was the preamble. When the chroniclers of the future come to write the tale of this sport, they will recognise two eras: before Luke Littler, and after.
âSo glad you are doing the honours here, sir,â says Ian Copestake. âI bet when you were 17 you were knocking out pretend commentaries on your ZX80! And now here we all are. Clearly the PDC trophy designer is also a cricket fan!â
I was 18, so bad luck. And it was a ZX81.
As the former BDO world champion Mark Webster pointed out on Sky Sports last night, this match are echoes of the 2013 final. Van Gerwen was the emerging sensation â he hit 17 perfect darts in the semi-final, still the most spine-tingling bit of darts Iâve ever seen â and Phil Taylor, 52, was the old don trying to delay the inevitable.
Taylor hadnât won a world title in three years, the equivalent of a millennium for most players. Van Gerwen led 4-2, missed a dart for 5-2 and was made to pay. Taylor won the last five sets to take the match 7-4 and become world champion for the 16th and final time. It was, as Barney Ronay wrote in this paper, âall about Taylor reasserting his venerable qualities of era-domination in the face of the younger generationâ.
Van Gerwen may not have dominated like Taylor, but heâs still been the best player of the era. And even at the age of 35, heâd love to reassert his venerable qualities.
Previously on ⦠darts
Youâre new round here arenât you? Itâs okay, weâre all darts fans now. All you need to do to confirm your bona fides is fill in the missing word in this popular chant: âboring boring ______â.
Hang on, the start time is 8pmish, not 8.15pmish! This is also the fault of AI and emphatically not a cock-up on my part. Blimey, weâre 45 minutes away.
Apple news summary says Littler is world champion
Not content with the thrilling progress of Project 2030, the year by which the entire human population will be wiped out, artificial intelligence is now starting to ruin what years we have left. Earlier today, as reported by the BBC, an Apple news summary â written by our old friend Artie Foucault â reported that Luke Littler was the new darts world champion.
Did I say 2030? Enjoy tonightâs final, letâs leave it at that.
Profile: Michael van Gerwen
Nickname: Mighty Mike/MvG
World ranking: No 3
Home town: Vlijmen, Netherlands
Major titles: 48 and counting
PDC worlds best: Winner 2014, 2017 and 2019
Walk-on music: Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
A decade ago, Van Gerwen was in Luke Littlerâs position; the heir apparent to Phil Taylorâs throne who seemed capable of lifting the world title year after year. The fact he has only won three Ally Pally crowns feels almost disappointing; Van Gerwen has occasionally misplaced his ruthless streak here, losing as many finals as he has won.
Van Gerwen is still only 35, though, and has time to reach a world title haul more fitting his incredible ability. Sometimes tripped up by his desire to totally dominate, the Dutchman has been more sanguine this year and may even enjoy the role of (slight) underdog in the final. If anyone can make tonight miserable for Littler, it is Van Gerwen at his merciless best.
Road to final R2 beat James Hurrell 3-0, R3 bt Brendan Dolan 4-2, R4 bt Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2, QF bt Callan Rydz 5-3, SF bt Chris Dobey 6-1.
Profile: Luke Littler
Nickname: The Nuke
World ranking: No 4
Home town: Warrington
Major titles: PL, World Series, Grand Slam 2024
PDC worlds best: Final 202â4, 2025â
Walk-on music: Greenlight (Pitbull)
At the start of last yearâs tournament, Luke Littler was a name only known to darts aficionados who had picked up on his strong showings at floor events. His incredible run to last yearâs world final made him famous far beyond the sport, but while other rising stars have wilted in the spotlight, Littler â still only 17 â has just kept climbing.
Back in the final 12 months later, with three major titles under his belt this year, it feels like a matter of time until Littler is the champion and world No 1. He is the favourite to lift the trophy tonight after hitting a relentless gear from the quarter-finals on; Van Gerwen may have to hope there is some scar tissue left from last yearâs defeat to Luke Humphries.
Road to final R2 beat Ryan Meikle 3-1, R3 bt Ian White 4-1, R4 bt Ryan Joyce 4-3, QF bt Nathan Aspinall 5-2, SF bt Stephen Bunting 6-1.
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. Itâs 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 heâs the phenomenon and Van Gerwen is fighting to stay young and relevant.
Littler is the big story â how can he not be â 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 Taylorâs record of 16 world championships. Instead he has been stuck on three titles since beating Michael Smith in 2019. Itâs still more than anyone else in the same period, but itâs not the domination that was expected â and that is now assumed of Littler even before he has won his first.
Littler canât be stopped, only delayed. After surviving a mid-match battering to win last yearâs final, Luke Humphries acknowledged as much. âAll day, in the back of my mind, Iâve been thinking, âGet this won now because heâs gonna dominate world darts soon!ââ
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, heâs 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 havenât 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 one thing, something modern society values almost as highly as oxygen: 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