LUKE LITTLER is setting his sights on beating Phil Taylor’s record of 16 World Championship Final wins.
The Nuke is already up to two himself having lost just a single game at Ally Pally in three years, with that also coming in the final.
He destroyed fellow youngster Gian van Veen 7-1 on Saturday night to claim the £1million prize.
But Littler is still miles off closing down The Power, who won eight in a row after his first in 1995.
Taylor also lost his first final, the year before, but went on to dominate the sport for two decades.
Between 1994 and 2010 he reached the world champs final 16 times, winning on 13 occasions.
Littler is promising to have a similar impact such is his superior quality over rivals, but isn’t taking it for granted.
When asked about Taylor’s record, the 18-year-old said: “Obviously it’s so far away. 14 to go, another 15 or 16 years I’d say.
“If it happens it happens. I’ll be around for a very long time and I’m here to win.
“Obviously it’s something any dart player could do. Me being so young and already picking up two of these, it’s 14 to go.
“It’s a long way to go but who knows if I could reach it? If I get five or six I’d be happy.”
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Despite having such great success in his career to date there is no sign of him easing off in a worrying show of ambition for his opponents.
Littler added: “I think I could [win 16]. If I stayed around long enough and kept the hunger.
“Like Michael van Gerwen says, once the hunger goes, there’s no point playing. There’s a lot of hunger left inside of me.“
Littler has won 19 of his 20 games on this stage, only losing to Luke Humphries in the 2024 final.
Having first made it all the way as a 16-year-old, age is on Littler’s side.
Taylor was 29 when he got to the final for the first time but has welcomed Littler’s challenge.
He has previously said: “If he wants to beat my world record, then he can go ahead and do it.
“It’s going to be difficult, to win 16 titles you are going to have to be in a lot of finals.
“It’s a lot of darts, a lot of hotels, a lot of miles travelling.
“He’d have to play for the next 20 years to get close to my record and for 20 years he’s got to be dedicated and make sure he does everything right.
“It’s difficult when you are young and you have money in the bank.
“I was 30 when I won for the first time, so I’d done all that before.
“You get what I used to call the Man United syndrome – and Liverpool have got it as well – where everybody raises their game against you, so you have to be at your best in every round.
“And it can take its toll on you. Especially when you get beaten because everyone questions you: ‘Why did he lose? What was wrong with him? Why has his bubble burst?’
“Everybody loves to see you up there, and then they love seeing you get knocked off as well.
“It’s how you take it, but I think he is mentally strong enough to deal with it.
“I’ve had my day but I would have loved to play Luke at my best, we’d have had a cracking game. I think I’d have beaten him but I’m not sure!”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
