Luke Littler produced another dominant display to demolish Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the 2025 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Final.

The Nuke, who lost this game 12 months ago to Luke Humphries, became the youngest World champion of all time, taking the moniker from van Gerwen when he won it in 2014.

Littler raced into a four set lead, as MvG, a three time champion himself, struggled on the outer ring in the early stages of the contest. Van Gerwen eventually got on the board in set five, but Littler would not budge, as he held throw in the sets he had the darts, eventually wrapping up the match on double 16 to get his hands on the Sid Waddell Trophy.

It means that Littler moves up to number two in world, while Van Gerwen now has a record of three wins and four losses in World Darts Championship Finals, having lost three of them in a row.

Poor finishing early on costs MvG

The tone was set in the very first leg of the match, as Littler punished three missed darts by MvG to break on tops. Two holds of throw later, he was a set to the good, hitting double 10 to go in front.

The Nuke had the darts in set two, and made the most of it, as he doubled his advantage with a whitewash set that took just 39 darts to win it.

Van Gerwen continued to miss doubles at crucial times, allowing Littler to break throw in the third leg of the third set. A leg later, he found double 10 once again to move three sets to the good. It was the same story in the fourth set, as The Green Machine missed more big darts on the outer ring, and again The Nuke pounced, again finding double 10 to increase his advantage to 4-0.

Littler holds nerve to win Paddy Power World Darts Championship

Van Gerwen finally got on the board in set five, finding a 132 outshot to win it with a break of throw. That would be the last break of throw for 10 legs, as both the sixth and seventh went to deciders, but both The Nuke and The Green Machine held in them, meaning Littler led 5-2 at the seventh set interval.

40 darts later, The Nuke found tops to win his second whitewash set, and move within one of the title. MvG though would force him to serve it out, winning the ninth set with a 14 darter on double 16.

However, Littler remained calm under pressure in the tenth and what would be the final set. A 14 darter on double 10, followed by an 11 dart break, but him within one leg of the title. After missing double 16 for a 132, he returned and found it, to realise his lifelong dream and win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship for the first time. He averaged 102.73 in the process, making it a staggering 10 times in 13 games he’s averaged over a ton at the Alexandra Palace.