Nathan Aspinall recalls moment he knew Luke Littler was a special talent

Luke Littler has experienced an impressive breakthrough since the 2024 World Cup. The teenage sensation has already won several tournaments this year, including the Premier League. Consequently, his fellow darter Nathan Aspinall has nothing but praise for the young talent.

Littler's rise began at the World Championships, where he immediately reached the finals on his debut. In that final, "The Nuke" faced Luke Humphries and eventually lost, but he had already proven himself as a player to be reckoned with. During that World Championship, the teenager impressed Nathan Aspinall, who remembers exactly when he realized Littler was a great talent.

"It has to be the first game of the worlds even though I knew him before." Aspinall says. "He played Christian Kist. If I'm deadly honest with you, the way he handled himself and walked on that stage on his debut. It was a tough game for him, he performed like that and I thought 'Bloody hell, you've even opened my eyes here mate'. And that was probably the first moment I thought that he was special."

Littler reached the final by successively defeating Andrew Gilding (3-1), Matt Campbell (4-1), Raymond van Barneveld (4-1), Brendan Dolan (5-1) and Rob Cross (6-2). Although he managed to take a 4-2 lead over Humphries in the final, he eventually lost 7-4 after Humphries won five sets in a row.

Since then, the young Englishman has continued his success by winning, among others, the Bahrain Darts Masters, where he beat Michael van Gerwen 8-5, and the Poland Darts Masters, where he beat Rob Cross 8-3. Perhaps his most impressive achievement to date is winning the Premier League, where he took revenge on Luke Humphries by winning 11-7.

Littler is only at the beginning of his career, but at the age of 17 he is already an established name in the darts world. His stormy rise promises many more successes in the future.