Luke Littler secured his first World Darts Championship by defeating three-time champion Michael van Gerwen at the Alexandra Palace on Friday night, becoming the youngest ever winner in the tournament’s history.
The 17-year-old clinched X-X [INSERT SCORE] victory 12 months after falling at the final hurdle in his maiden World Championship campaign.
But there would be no repeat this year as he eclipsed Ryan Meikle, Ian White, Ryan Joyce, Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting before his crowning moment against Van Gerwen to cement his place in darts history.
Telegraph Sport ranks his success among the true teenage greats in sporting history.
10. Tiger Woods
Woods was 21 when he so memorably became the youngest winner of the US Masters at Augusta but was a child prodigy long before, becoming the youngest ever US Amateur champion in 1994 at the age of just 18.
9. Ronnie O’Sullivan
It is difficult to know which was O’Sullivan’s most remarkable feat – becoming the oldest winner of a major title in December 2023 or being the youngest champion, aged just 17, 30 years earlier. The record still stands.
8. Katie Ledecky
Arguably the greatest female swimmer of all-time had already collected five Olympic titles and nine world titles before she turned 20.
7. Luke Littler
The youngest world darts champion by a barely believable seven years, Littler clinched his first title at the Ally Pally on Friday night 12 months on from his breakthrough campaign as a 16-year-old. The Warrington-born teenager, who will turn 18 this month, has already been tipped to challenge Phil Taylor’s record of 16 World Championships.
6. Boris Becker
Michael Chang actually narrowly beat Becker’s record as the youngest men’s grand slam champion at the French Open but Becker’s triumph aged 17 was still the most remarkable given the serve-volley power then required to win the most prestigious tournament of them all at Wimbledon.
5. Martina Hingis
Tennis’s youngest tennis grand slam singles champion of the 20th Century at the age of 16, but the most remarkable achievement was how she almost completed a clean sweep of major titles at the same age in 1997, only losing in the final of the French Open to Iva Majoli.
4. Nadia Comaneci
You could fill this list with gymnasts given the relatively early age at which they emerge but Comaneci – a triple Olympic champion aged only 14 in 1976 with routines that included a perfect 10 – was perhaps the most iconic.
3. Mike Tyson
Had to wait until shortly after his 20th birthday to become the youngest ever world heavyweight champion but he had already terrorised the division by then and no one has come close to beating that record.
2. Jennifer Capriati
Just 13 when she made her professional tennis debut and only 14 when she reached the semi-finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon. Capriati would have to wait another decade, however, to finally win a grand-slam title when she triumphed at the Australian Open in 2001 as a 23-year-old veteran.
1. Pele
A year on from his death and the appreciation of Pele’s peerless feats continue to reverberate around the world. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games remains an all-time record, as does his status as the only three-time World Cup winner.
The most extraordinary accomplishment of all, however, was surely achieved in 1958 at the age of 17 when he inspired Brazil to the first of five World Cup triumphs. The teenage Pele scored a hat-trick in the semi-final win against France before following that up with two goals in the final.
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