Luke Littler's brutal moment as dream darts run ends in world championship final

Teen darts sensation Luke Littler let history slip through his fingers as he missed a huge chance in the Worlds Darts Championship final. The 16-year-old has become a household name in the UK after going on an iconic darts run which included a semi-final win over 2018 champion Rob Cross on Wednesday morning.

Victory on Thursday morning against Luke Humphries would have broken all the records but Littler went down seven sets to four. However, things could have ended very differently, with Littler left to rue a chance to go five sets to two up in the final, missing a dart at double two.

DIET OF A CHAMPION: Luke Littler lifts the lid on his pre-match preparation

NOT HAPPY: Anthony Albanese cops backlash over David Warner comments

In what was a thrilling back and forth contest, Humphries took full advantage of the crucial miss from Littler at the end of the seventh set and never looked back. Humphries hit double 14 and reduced the 16-year-old’s lead to four sets to three and from there didn't drop another set.

Commentator Wayne Mardle said it was the biggest turning point of the contest as Humphries leant on his experience on the big stage and won the next five sets while Littler struggled to regain his composure. "The match itself, it turned on the double two in the seventh set, which was just unlucky from Littler whose second dart skewed off from the 18 into the treble, then he had to regroup and missed double two," Mardle said.

"He would have been 5-2 up. Humphries after that turned on the afterburners with 113 average, 114, 109 in the next three sets." Despite the disappointment, Littler still walked away with nearly $400,000 and has a very bright darting future in front of him.

Humphries's win was the icing on the cake in what was a breakout year for the Englishman, where he earned the World No.1 spot and won the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship. "I'll draw a lot from this and this will be a moment that will never be forgotten,” Humphries said.

"I don’t want to say that I’ve completed darts but everything that you want the resume I've done now, so now it’s now about motivating yourself to do more and more. Now I want to be double world champion and win loads of majors."

Luke Humphries full of praise for Luke Littler

Following the match Humphries sang Littler's praises and said he felt this was the one he had to win as he feels Littler's time of domination is edging closer. In the back of my mind throughout today I was thinking 'Get this one now because he (Littler) is going to dominate world darts soon'," Humphries said.

"He’s an incredible player and when I was on the brink of winning he was so relentless. I was really proud of the performance there. He’s an incredible talent and I had to win this one tonight and he’s going to win plenty I'm sure.”

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.