Luke Littler ‘intimidating’ his biggest darts rivals ahead of World Championship as incredible stats are revealed
LUKE LITTLER has ‘intimidated’ his biggest rivals ahead of the World Championship.
That’s according to the sport’s statistic guru Christopher Kempf based on the official OChE form guide over the last 200 legs played by the top players.
Kempf has dubbed this year as a “revo-Luke-tion” which has left stars like Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price in the shade.
Kempf said: “If Luke Littler was determined to intimidate his rivals in preparation for the 2025 World Championship, he could not have done so more emphatically or with a more impressive and comprehensive statistical display.
“Littler’s last 200 legs have broken so many Form Guide records that it is perhaps most appropriate to note that ‘The Nuke’ is the first player to lead all five statistical categories tracked in the Form Guide simultaneously.
“In many cases, his leads are tremendous: Littler’s OChE rating of 73 puts him close to a pace that would win three-quarters of legs played on the ProTour: his nearest rival is 10 points behind.
“18 players currently hold an average between 95 and 100; Littler soars above them all with the highest average yet recorded in the Form Guide, 104.22.
“Littler even saw fit to break the ton-plus checkout record in style, completing 24 ton-plus finishes in 200 legs and 14 in the Players Championship Finals alone.”
Littler begins his attempt win darts’ biggest prize later this month – and could kick it off with a mouthwatering second round tie.
Ahead of the tournament, Kempf added: “Only his loss in the final to Luke Humphries spoiled his preparation for the World Championship, but on this form the only appropriate comparison is to Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen at their historical best.
“Only Gary Anderson has emerged from the 2024 season looking like a contender for a third world title; his seasonal average of 99.66 is the highest this year, even besting Littler’s 99.06.
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
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
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“Rob Cross – the 2018 champion – is ranked 30th in averages and was brutally whitewashed by Littler in Minehead.
“Van Gerwen and Price have had their least successful years in ranking TV events in a decade and look less competitive, on recent form, than young talents like Josh Rock and Wessel Nijman.
“Michael Smith has the 83rd highest doubles percentage of the 128 Tour Card Holders, and Peter Wright has the 94th highest.
“All of these players (except Price) have won titles in 2024, and could conceivably do so again this coming month, but the ‘revo-Luke-tion’ seems to have caught them by surprise, even to the point of rendering these once potent players almost obsolete.”