Luke Littler hailed the “special feeling” of joining an illustrious small list of players who have appeared in back-to-back World Darts Championships.
Littler defeated new Dutch No. 1 Jan van Veen in the final, winning seven straight sets for a 7-1 victory.
With this win, he became the fourth consecutive champion, joining Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson. He is also the first to achieve this feat since 2016, when ‘The Flying Scotsman’ achieved the feat.
Not only that, he joins Taylor, John Peart, Lewis, Anderson, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright to win the top award in all of darts multiple times.
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Check out some of the most memorable moments from the 2026 World Championships.
Littler has been open about the fact that his primary goal going into the tournament was to win back-to-back championships for the first time in 10 years, but he’s now experiencing a “special feeling” that many in the sport don’t experience.
In fact, he feels he will experience it again and again if he continues to play his “unstoppable” brand of darts while “hunting down” the majors he still wants to collect.
Littler is also currently the holder of the World Championship, British Open, World Match Play, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship titles, is world number one and was the first recipient of the £1 million winner’s prize at Alexandra Palace.
Only the World Masters and European Championships remain for him to complete his major career.
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Littler won the third set of the World Championship final with this 170 finish.
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s what dreams are made of. Everyone wants their first world title, but just to be able to come back here and win it again and win back-to-back titles is an amazing feeling,” Littler said.
“There’s nothing like anybody’s first world title in any sport, because it’s the first time. But this was all about just holding onto it, bringing it home for 12 months and adding my name to the list of consecutive world champions. It’s a very short list, but I’m in it.”
“On stage, I can be unstoppable. I win matches, I lose matches. It’s darts, so I can’t always win. But the World Championship is mine again.”
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Ally Parry Wasp appeared in the final match between Littler and Van Veen
“The next major is the World Masters at the end of January, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. The other majors are later this year, so I’m going to chase them down.
“It feels special. It’s everything I’ve wanted to do since the World Grand Prix leading up to the World Championship.
“The million pounds is there, but it’s after the trophy. The trophy always comes first. But my name is on that shortlist.”
“I was expecting Gian to throw the kitchen sink at me.”
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Van Veen wins first set of World Championship final against Littler
Littler showed a sensational performance in the final with an average of 106.02, 16 hits under 180 seconds, 19 hits under 140 seconds, a doubles success rate of 46 percent, seven sets of spins, and a checkout of 147, summarizing his talent and sealing the victory.
This was a level Van Veen simply couldn’t match, and the 18-year-old admitted he expected his opponent to throw more and to the level he did against Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
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Van Veen had a great finish in the second set of the final, but ultimately lost the set to Littler.
“I definitely played well after the first set. I just want to get off to a quick start. I don’t want my opponent to take a 1-0 lead,” he added.
“I always wanted to set that marker in the game and set the standard, but I just couldn’t do it. But after that first set, it was just magic.
“If you’re playing an average of 106 in eight sets, you’ll win nine times out of 10. The first Premier League game last year, against Michael van Gerwen, that was just magic for both of us and that’s a match to lose.
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Van Veen’s reaction to losing in the final
“Gian was always there. He missed a couple of doubles. He could have won 2-0 and that would have changed everything. I would have been more frustrated.”
“I was expecting Gian to throw the kitchen sink at me.”
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Littler and Van Veen talk about new rivalry after meeting in World Championship final
Littler to the boos: The crowd has been with me ever since!
Littler has faced challenges throughout this tournament. That was the booing that followed his comments after his fourth-round victory over Rob Cross.
During the eventful match, he appeared upset at various points, offered enthusiastic congratulations multiple times, and found Littler repeating the phrase, “What now?” After winning the final leg of the sixth set, he told the crowd:
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Littler’s thoughts after winning the 2026 World Championship
After his victory over Cross, Littler told the crowd:
“Can I just say one thing? You guys paid for the tickets and you paid for my winnings, so thank you, thank you for the money! Thank you for booing me. Thank you, come on!”
Littler then faced boos from the crowd, but admitted he wanted the crowd back on his side.
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Wayne Mardle reflects on Littler’s back-to-back World Darts Championships: “You never know when it’s going to end, which is why it’s so special.”
It’s a moment he feels has passed, as the audience has been mostly with him ever since.
“Obviously they turned on me, but I still won the match and advanced to the quarterfinals,” Littler said.
“Everyone wants to have the crowd on their side. Ever since that happened, the crowd was on my side in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and tonight. Big respect to them. They paid a lot of money to cheer me on this time.”
“I woke up this morning and there were a few people nervous. Obviously, I looked around and they were all saying, ‘Come on.’ At one point in the Rob Cross game, I turned around and they all had their heads down.”
“I said, ‘Keep your head up, because if you look down at me and your head is down, it’s not going to help me.’ I didn’t have to worry too much tonight.”
What’s next?
The 2026 Premier League Darts line-up will be announced live on Sky Sports News from 3.30pm on Monday 5 January, with no changes to this season’s competition format.
The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit (Littler, Humphries, Van Veen and Van Gerwen) will be joined by four wildcard picks to complete the line-up for the 16-week regular season, which will be played across the UK and Europe, with the top four in the standings advancing to Final Night at London’s O2.
Stay up to date with the 2026 darts schedule. You can also stream darts and other top sports on NOW.
