If Luke Littler won the World Darts Championship final tonight (3 January) he planned to go into hiding for a bit.
Well he's only gone and done it with a 7-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen.
Roll the clock back a year and the world of darts was being astonished by a prodigious 16-year-old who stormed to the final and ended up as the runner up after being defeated by Luke Humphries.
Luke 'The Nuke' Littler was back in that final a year later, up against dart-throwing Dutchman Michael van Gerwen, who enjoyed several years in the game regarded as the world's best player.
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It seems like there's little doubt that Littler is going to be one of the stars of darts for years to come, and said he had a plan in place if he won the final.
He told the Daily Telegraph that after he reached the final last year and the massive attention on him, he headed to a secret location in Wales for a couple of weeks to let the heat die down a bit.
Littler followed that up with a glittering 2024 in darts to prove that his WDC exploits weren't a one-off, picking up a series of titles and gaining incredible fame.
Before the tournament, he told the Telegraph that if he got to the final again he'd once again take a bit of time off afterwards, though whether or not his previous bolt-hole in Wales would be used is a secret he kept.
He said: "If the same happens, I’ll hide away again, no one will find me."
Guess what Luke? The same thing happened again and he found himself in the final once more, thanks to some skilled dart throwing from the 17-year-old.
Being the runner up last time around made Littler a proper celebrity, though he's kept his feet on the ground as, last year when he was the runner-up, the first thing he spent his tournament money on was fish, chips and curry.
He told the Warrington Guardian that the key to dealing with his newfound fame was 'about balancing it out'.
"There have been a lot of media commitments, but I had to make time to practice, and also to see my friends and family and play a bit of Xbox," he said.
“Doing this is what I love – there’s been a bit of media and then an exhibition but after that, it’s chilling out."
The Warrington lad has got himself a new home for chilling out in a less busy area, but said he still wanted to be close to his family and friends.
He said: "I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t more than half an hour away from my friends or take my Mum and Dad too far away from their parents.
“It’s good to still be local, even if it’s a little more out of the way."
Topics: Luke Littler, Sport, UK News
Joe Harker