Teen sensation Luke Littler has clinched the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts title with a jaw-dropping 16-3 thrashing of Martin Lukeman in the final.
At just 17, Littler geared up for next month’s World Championships at Alexandra Palace by scooping his first major ranking title in spectacular fashion, stringing together an incredible 15 legs in a row in Wolverhampton after initially trailing to underdog Lukeman.
Lukeman savoured his moment in the 18th leg, narrowing the gap to 15-3, but it was Littler who sealed the deal with a commanding victory. The young darting prodigy had previously staged a stunning comeback in the semi-final, overturning a four-leg deficit to edge past Gary Anderson 16-15 in a nail-biter.
Despite Anderson notching high checkouts of 164, 142, 124, and 102 to carve out a 13-9 advantage, Littler roared back, claiming seven of the final nine legs to secure his spot in the Wolverhampton showdown.
“It frustrates me because I know I can come back and win games like this, but obviously it would be better if I went into the lead like Gary did,” Littler, who smashed in 16 180s and boasted an average of 103.81, confessed to Sky Sports. “When I went off for the last break I thought you’ve got to dig deep, just like the Mike De Decker game and I can’t believe I won.”
He reflected on his mindset, saying, “I said to myself ‘You know it’s there so do it’. This is one of the best games I’ve won.”, reports the Mirror.
One fan celebrating the result commented on X: “He is going to win a lot upcoming years!”
“Luke Littler is just a freak! Incredible talent,” another said.
Summing up his remarkable debut year in the sport, one X account wrote: “The Grand Slam of Darts is the 10th tournament Luke
Littler has won this year. Only one other player has more than 5 wins (Luke Humphries, 6). “The Nuke” started his PDC debut year winning an event in each of the first seven months.”