We’ve seen them before. The one-hit wonders, the flashes in the pan who fizzle into the ether as quickly as they burst onto the scene.There is no doubt that the sui generis sport of professional darts has had its share. And as a then 16-year-old Luke Littler was advancing, round by round, into the final of the World Darts Championship, many acclimated with this world of arrows were thinking the same thing: When will the party stop? Well, he lost in the final, I guess it was a nice run. But wait, did he just win the very next televised major in Bahrain? Oh, and he followed it up with wins in Belgium and Austria? Well, surely he can’t win the grueling, four-month-long Premier League against seven of the best players in the world. Reader, you can imagine what came next.

The now 17-year-old wunderkind who captured hearts and minds during that seemingly improbable run has done the truly hard part, as the new man to beat in world darts is but a kid. “I wouldn’t say so,” Littler responds with a shy smile when asked if he believes that to be true. “I’m just enjoying my darts.” But for the neophyte who has more television titles and career prize money to his name in his first six months than many tour card-holders might see in a lifetime, and who betting oddsmakers have already begun placing as the favorite in seemingly every tournament he enters, some things seem hard to argue. So, how did we get here this quickly? There is of course that vessel of raw ability which seems divinely gifted to only the rarest among us. Those deep enough in the weeds have known of Littler’s prodigious, tungsten-tossing talents for years. He even candidly admits that he doesn’t practice often, preferring to spend his infrequent off days playing FIFA on the Xbox like any other red-blooded British teen. But in the game of darts that is said to be played between the ears as much as it is from the arm, a full picture of Littler’s brilliance becomes clear when talking to him.

He gladly speaks of his love for kebabs and the incomparable atmosphere that defines his sport: where Mario and Luigi impersonators and human traffic cones across UK arenas croon in unison that “There’s only one Luke Littler.” But sporting nerves? Such a concept couldn’t be more foreign to the Cheshire native. “I just love playing on the stage in front of the fans in the arena,” Littler says. “That’s a place I can settle and just play my best darts.” It might all seem a bit fanciful if you hadn’t seen him compete, hadn’t spoken to the youngster behind the steely blue eyes whose maturity equals his deceptively older-looking features. Harder for Littler has been the newfound fame. Photoshoots, television appearances, and public recognition have suddenly become his new normal. “It’s been crazy,” Littler says. “Obviously, I’ve always looked at my Instagram followers. To start the World Championships I was at 4,000, and as it stands, I’m at 1.3 million. Everyone just knows who I am.” For the record, 1.3 million Instagram followers (now at 1.4 milion) are more than double that of any other darts player, retired or otherwise.

Luke Littler is not only establishing a new bar for performance at his age, but for notoriety within and impact on his sport. Sure, the Professional Darts Corporation has long been a far cry from the cigarette smoke-laden pubs of 70s Blackpool that might spring to mind for the uninitiated. Crowds of over 10,000 in Holland and 14,000 in London have been commonplace. But Luke “The Nuke’s” prowess has attracted widespread attention the likes of which the game has yet to see, with his World Championship final becoming the most viewed non-soccer event Sky Sports has shown—ever. “I know what I’ve done for my part. I’ve changed the sport,” says Littler, not with arrogance, but with the deserved confidence of somebody who, somehow, seems already poised to continue setting the standard for what’s possible on and off the dart board.

Photographed by Alvin Kean Wong

Styled by John Tan

Written by Jake Carlisi 

Grooming: Jessi Butterfield using Circa 1970 at Walter Schupfer Management

Location: Cafe Studio NYC