Luke Humphries favourite for next year's World Championship after seeing off Luke Littler in final

Luke Humphries is a best-price 9-2 to successfully defend his Paddy Power World Darts Championship title after winning the tournament for the first time on Wednesday night.

The 28-year-old overcame the challenge of teenage sensation Luke Littler in a thrilling final and has been chalked up as favourite across the board for the next edition.

Humphries is as short as 11-4 with one bookmaker for the next World Championship, having averaged 103.67 on his way to a 7-4 victory. The champion saved his best darts for the latter stages of the event, thrashing Dave Chisnall 5-1 in the quarter-finals, before producing a 108.74 average as he whitewashed Scott Williams 6-0 in the semis.

The seventh set proved crucial against Littler in the final. The 16-year-old, an unseeded pre-tournament 66-1 chance who had demolished all his previous opponents on his World Championship debut, had a dart at double two to go 5-2 up in sets. When that dart fell low, Humphries pounced, winning the final five sets of the match.

Humphries, a 7-2 favourite before this World Championship started on December 15, drifted to 9-2 after some narrow early victories. Michael van Gerwen took over as market leader after going through the first three rounds without dropping a set, but Williams stunned the Dutchman in the quarter-finals.

Van Gerwen is not even second in the betting for the next World Championship. The 34-year-old, who has not won the tournament since 2019, can be backed at 6-1. Littler is an 11-2 chance sandwiched between Humphries and Van Gerwen in the 2025 betting.

Humphries, Littler and Van Gerwen will be joined by Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall and Peter Wright in this year's Premier League, which begins in Cardiff on Thursday, February 1.

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