Luke Littler had to delay a bit his World No. 1 in darts, but he finally achieved it on Sunday: the teenage star has become the World's best darts player, according to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) by winning the Grand Slam of Darts, beating the former World No. 1 Luke Humphries 16-11.
Even if Humphries would have won the final, Littler would have still passed him in the world ranking, which is determined by the prize money won in official competitions in the last two years. At 18, he becomes, by far, the youngest World No. 1 in PDC, surpassing Michael van Gerwen, who was 24 when he first became World No. 1 in 2014. Now, Littler has cumulative £1,850,000 prize money won in the last two years.
"There's going to be a target on my back from Luke and all the other players. It's made me more hungry", he said, via BBC Sports, bragging about being "the best in the world": "World number one, you are the best in the world. To top it off by going back-to-back here makes it even more special."
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Luke Humphries wants his revenge, and the prize money increase in World Championships would help him
However, Luke Humphries could take the title back with a perfect run at the World Championships that start in December, where Littler will be defending the top prize, which increases to £1,000,000 for the winner (from a total prize fund of £5m), double the amount Littler earned in January 2025.