BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Darts sensation Luke Littler wins the Young Sports Personality of the Year after history-making 12 months

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Tue December 17, 2024 · 4h ago

Luke Littler's record-breaking career reached a new height away from the oche as he became the first darts player ever to win the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year.

The 17-year-old's astonishing first 12 months as a professional - which all began at his headline-making run to at the 2024 PDC World Championship final - saw him transcend darts and become a big enough sports star to come second in the vote for the main award behind Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodkingson.

The closest anyone from his sport had previously ever come to landing the prestigious award at SPOTY, that first began way back in 1954, was Phil Taylor in 2010 when finishing runner-up to AP McCoy and aside from that, they've rarely even got considered for the shortlist.

As he accepted his award at Tuesday’s ceremony in Salford, the now 17-year-old said on stage: “It goes to show how well I’ve done this year.

“But not only myself, (we) changed the sport of darts, all the other professionals, but I have played a big part in it.”

Asked about inspiring people, he said: “I know the amount of academies that have been brought up in different locations, how big the sport has got, tickets selling out for Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace, for the ongoing World Championship) in hours, and the Premier League, they sold out quick as well.

“It just goes to show how much I’ve changed it.”

How did he become such a star?

The sport’s most successful player of all-time – Phil Taylor – had to win 16 world titles and dozens of other major crowns throughout the 1990s and 2000s before becoming a true household name in the sporting world, but Littler was hitting mainstream news headlines within the space of a few matches.

The World Championship final between the then 16-year-old sensation and eventual winner Luke Humphries was the most watched non-football event in Sky Sports history with a total audience of 4.8 million and while he didn’t walk off with the trophy and the first prize of £500,000, his stardom and earning power was only just beginning.

ALSO READ: HOW LUKE LITTLER BECAME A MILLIONAIRE

Luke Littler has already won £1million in total prize money in his debut year with the PDC

It wasn’t long before Littler became the first darts player to reach an Instagram following of over one million – which is over double of what his nearest rival Michael van Gerwen has despite the Dutchman winning titles at the highest level for over a decade – while he became a regular on primetime entertainment programmes such as the Jonathan Ross Show, where he was even asked to throw darts with Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown.

Interview opportunities and media relationships with Littler were quickly becoming harder and harder to come by as everyone wanted a piece of him.

With top-level darts so heavily linked to Sky Sports over the past 30 years, other mainstream outlets hardly covered darts on TV, radio or online but even they quickly realised there was now a huge appetite for a sport that they’d previously overlooked.

Ever since Littler created a media circus at the Alexandra Palace back in December, the BBC have joined many other major news outlets in staying abreast of all the action on the PDC Tour in a bid for priceless traffic.

Social media-wise, clips of his heroics are pure gold for influencers and mainstream content providers as they regularly go viral and earn the kind of engagement levels that another player would have to do something legendary to match.

One of the best moments in darts this year was Nathan Aspinall's reaction to Luke Littler's nine-darter back in January. Wait for it 🙌 pic.twitter.com/yIExWLQZds
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) December 12, 2024

Then came Littler’s groundbreaking multi-million fashion deal with BoohooMAN which further emphasised how his name was now seen as truly marketable beyond darts.

Littler's achievements

Anyone who thought Littler's run to the Ally Pally final was a crazy flash in the pan similar to Emma Raducanu's US Open fairytale in tennis were mistaken within a month as he went on to win a tournament on the World Series Tour in Bahrain, hitting a nine-darter along the way.

Three more perfect legs would follow - including an unforgettable one in the Premier League final that he won against Humphries at the O2.

That was his most lucrative of 10 titles in his debut season with the PDC, an astonishing haul which also included the Grand Slam of Darts as recently as November.

Only Taylor, van Gerwen and Peter Wright had ever managed 10 or more titles in a single season before while Littler's exploits also saw him saw past £1million in total prize money - an amount that most players wouldn't earn in their entire career.

Littler is hoping to become the youngest world champion of all time on January 3 and his campaign will begin this Saturday night.

The stats that explain how Luke Littler has won 10 titles and banked £1million in prize money at the age of 17 in his debut season. Crazy. pic.twitter.com/NaOiWctHqn
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) November 17, 2024