How Humphries conquered Ally Pally: Sweeps, escapes and a party spoiled

Fans may have wanted teenage prodigy Luke Littler (16) to take the title, but this year's trophy was quite fairly awarded to the man who performed best in 2023. The final at Alexandra Palace, in particular, confirmed that darts is about to enter a new generation.

He was said to be talented but he may never achieve a proper trophy - Humphries has regularly failed at major tournaments.

Although he's been one of the relatively narrow favourites for the last three years, he hasn't actually played the prestigious Premier League as a proper participant. He's only filled in twice in 2019 and 2020 as a substitute. At the same time, he can boast that he hasn't lost a single game.

He didn't start winning properly until 2022 when he brought back titles from four European Tour tournaments. However, he was still a step away from winning a major, illustrated by his exits in two quarter-finals and two semi-finals.

But then came 2023, during which 'Cool Hand Luke' confirmed that a star was born.

Perhaps two exhibitions - one in Madison Square Garden in New York and the other in Obořište near Příbram - helped him to do so. This was followed by a title on the German European Tour and, in October, his first win at a major tournament - the World Grand Prix in Leicester. That's when it all clicked into place.

"There was a period in my life when I was really depressed and didn't know what was going to happen. I couldn't handle the matches on the big stage, I went through a lot of problems," he admitted in an interview with Sky Sports immediately after his Alexandra Palace coronation.

In quick succession came two more major trophies - the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals.

Suddenly Humphries was one of the main contenders for the World Championship, and crucially, he was the heavy favourite.

"The fact that I have now become world champion and world number one hopefully shows the strength of my mental abilities," he said.

But of course, there were several pitfalls and very well-prepared opponents waiting for him at Alexandra Palace.

Key moments:

Humphries 4-3 Pietreczko, third round

German youngster Ricardo Pietreczko (29) played fantastic darts. He didn't look at the fact that he was facing the winner of three majors in the first half of the match.

He was up 3-1 and took the break from Humphreys early in the fifth set, but then he overstretched and lost the match. It must be said, however, that the future world champion needed a few important maximums to gain the upper hand.

Humphries 4-3 Cullen, quarter-finals

Humphries knows very well that after this match he could have been sent packing.

Joe Cullen (34) was playing fantastically, Humphries had to constantly tighten him up and even faced two darts to close out the whole match.

However, Humphries just about survived and eventually won the match for himself in a tie-breaker in one of the most dramatic battles in World Championship history.

"I was under pressure and I felt it, I'm not a robot, I'm a human being. I feel sorry for Joe because he was very unlucky," commented the Englishman on the almost miraculous turnaround.

"I survived again, I was very lucky, just like against Ricardo."

Humphries 7-4 Littler, final

Cool Hand Luke had a tough time, especially in the opening game, where he lost three of his own legs.

From 4-2 down, however, he put on one hell of a show - throwing exceptional drop shots, closing a big fish 170 and taking out multiple checkouts through the bull.

In the final set, his experience showed and he won five sets in a row against the talented youngster to decide the match.

"Luke was one dart away from a 5-2 lead, if he hadn't missed it would have been hard to turn it around," Humphries acknowledged after the match.

The big numbers:

1

For the first time in his career, he broke through the gates of the semi-finals at the World Championship and reached the final, turning it into a title. But that's not all: Luke Humphries also officially became the new world number one on January 4th.

19

That's how many matches in a row Luke Humphries has gone unbeaten.

On 12 occasions it was against an opponent in the current top 30 world rankings.

His winning streak dates back to the start of the Grand Slam of Darts held in Wolverhampton in early November. There, he won all his regular group matches and then four play-off matches, and subsequently dispatched all his opponents at the Players Championship Finals at Minehead.

And finally, of course, he remained unbeaten at Ally Pally.

73

So many times throughout the tournament, the fans at the Palace raised the scoreboards after his accurate 180s and in this respect too, he was the best darter of the championship. He hit the maximum 23 times in the final, which earned him the accompanying Ballon d'Art trophy.

The kids are coming

Although Humphries looks like a sovereign who has taken over the world of darts, it is important not to forget the others. The Englishman was quick to point out that he is very happy for this year's title, as there may be a long reign of the new superstar Littler in the years to come.

"My dream was to be world champion, so I had to spoil this party. Littler is an incredible talent and I had to win tonight because he may not give anyone a chance in the years to come. He's going to win a lot, I'm sure of it," Humphries said immediately after his victory.

The darts world is slowly changing. This year's final was a battle of players who, on average, had the lowest combined age in the history of the competition.

Humphries and Littler were a combined 44 years old, while a year ago the final pair was 21 years older (even 89 in 2009)! Times are changing.