Deep down, we all knew this was going to happen at some point. From the moment Luke Littler stepped through the doors of Alexandra Palace in 2023 and started throwing darts from the gods, a countdown had begun that would ineluctably, irrevocably end with the Sid Waddell Trophy hoisted aloft in his arms.

And yet, with the moment potentially hours away, the thought of it still seems somehow unreal, illusory, transgressive. Darts is on the verge of a new age, a tectonic shift in its history and popularity and cultural footprint. Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen: turns out this was the preamble. When the chroniclers of the future come to write the tale of this sport, they will recognise two eras: before Littler, and after.

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