Sporting Life
Luke Littler
Luke Littler

Darts results: Luke Littler reach third PDC World Championship final in a row and will meet Gian van Veen for the title

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Sat January 03, 2026 · 3h ago

Luke Littler made more history by reaching his third PDC World Championship final in a row and he'll now meet Dutch star Gian van Veen for the title at Alexandra Palace on Saturday.

Littler followed in the legendary footsteps of Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Gary Anderson after another breathtaking performance to thrash Ryan Searle 6-1.

The 18-year-old, who finished runner-up on debut to Luke Humphries two years ago before becoming the youngest ever world champion 12 months later, is also the first player since Taylor to reach the final in his first three appearances.

Littler averaged 105.35 in a ruthless display in which he also hit 10 of the 14 180s in the match and pinned almost 60% of his doubles.

He's now won 18 of his 19 matches on the Ally Pally stage and averaged over 100 in 15 of them.

Searle struggled to reproduce the standard that helped him reach his first World Championship semi-final for the loss of just two sets but he did raise the roof with a 170 checkout in a leg that Littler threatened a nine-darter.

Littler will now meet another of the brightest stars in the sport as he bids to defend the Sid Waddell Trophy and a cheque for £1million in Saturday's final at 2000 GMT, live on Sky Sports.

Van Veen, who won the World Youth Championship for the second year in a row back in November, usurped Michael van Gerwen as Dutch number one when thrashing Luke Humphries 5-1 in the quarter-finals and followed it up with another mesmerising display to defeat his hero Gary Anderson 6-3.

The pair exchanged 170 checkouts in a ridiculous fifth set of the match which will go down in history as one of the best ever seen on the Ally Pally stage.

Van Veen went on to pinch it in a decider to move 4-1 up before the defiant Flying Scotsman, who had been playing superbly himself until that point, began a superb fightback to close to within one set at 4-3.

But the young Dutchman was not to be denied as he took the next two in deciding legs to reach his maiden World Championship final at just the second attempt.

Saturday's contest will be a repeat of the 2023 World Youth Championship final which Littler won at the age of 16, but overall they've shared their eight overall meetings at four victories apiece.

Their last encounter came at the World Grand Prix where Littler ran out a 2-0 winner with a 105.58 average, with van Veen managing 106.47 in defeat.

More to follow...

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