Luke Littler became only the fourth man ever to defend the PDC World Darts Championship as he thrashed Gian van Veen 7-1 in the showpiece final.
Littler, 18, picked up the biggest darts prize ever in the form of a £1m cheque, fitting given the coffers of the sport have been significantly boosted by his own stratospheric rise.
Van Veen, a former youth champion who had beaten Littler three times before, took the opening set but faded quickly and even cut himself en route to the heaviest defeat in a final for 17 years.
Littler had already joined esteemed company by reaching a third consecutive final, which only Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, Dennis Priestley and Gary Anderson have ever managed.
Despite being only 18, it made Littler the senior man on stage.
But if Van Veen was feeling the nerves of his first final, it did not show – initially at least.
And anyone who watched his semi-final against Anderson, his darting hero, would have known the Dutchman was unlikely to be fazed by the occasion.
Even his first throw of the final was millimetre-perfect, finding home in the middle of the treble 20. The set went down to the deciding leg and both men missed set darts, before Van Veen sealed it.
Littler fumed his way off stage – he said before the final how much not winning the first set annoys him – and when he came back, everything seemed to change.
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From 2-0 down in the second set, Littler roared through the gears, winning nine of the next 10 legs to take a 3-1 lead. He wasn’t even halfway there and yet somehow it felt like last-chance saloon for Van Veen.
The famous “Ally Pally wasp” tried to come to his rescue, sending Littler ducking and diving mid-visit, but he still won the leg. In fact it was Van Veen who ended up with an injury, somehow cutting his throwing hand and smearing blood on the board.
TV schedulers were probably grateful for the insect and equipment interventions for creating some welcome jeopardy: not since Raymond van Barneveld was dominated 7-1 by Phil Taylor in 2009 had someone been beaten so badly in a final.
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