The Olympic cyclist was involved in a horror crash before Christmas but it didn’t stop him being there to present World Darts Champion Luke Littler with his trophy
With thousands of people watching tonight as Luke Littler faced Gian van Veen in the World Darts Championship final tonight, there is another sportsman that viewers had their eye. Presenting the Ballon d’Art trophy to the winner was Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy who appeared on crutches.
Presenting the trophy, the esteemed athlete made his first public appearance since a horrifying crash that left him with a severe leg injury. He was attending Alexandra Palace, just weeks after suffering the cycling accident that happened while he is also battling terminal prostate cancer.
Speaking to Sky Sports in December, Hoy said: “I’ve smashed my leg up on the mountain bike, that’s the worst thing that’s happened recently. You just don’t bounce like you do when you’re younger. It was a big one.
“I’m doing better now, I’m still on crutches, hobbling about, but by the time I’m there for the darts final on January 3, hopefully I’ll be a bit more mobile.”
The former Olympic competitor announced in February 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and in October 2024 he confirmed that his diagnosis was terminal.
The primary cancer spread to his bones, with doctors giving him between two and four years to live. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here
Sir Chris Hoy presented the trophy to first time winner Luke Littler tonight after winning the final match against Gian van Veen.
Luke Littler became the first player to defend his World Darts Championship final since Gary Anderson in 2016, by breezing past Gian van Veen in the final at Alexandra Palace.
The World number one came out as 6-1 winner over his Dutch opponent to seal the crown and pocket the £1 million prize money. It adds to his career £1,970,500 earned by Littler over the last two years.
The 18-year-old comfortably made it through the latter stages of the competition to book his place in the final. He overcame Krzysztof Ratajski 5-0 in the quarter-final before beating Ryan Searle 6-1 in the semi-final.
The final was full of incidents, including the return of the infamous Ally Pally wasp, and the board being stained by Van Veen’s blood after a small cut on his hand.
But the overriding theme was the dominance of Littler, who made no mistake from the final double 20 to win the tournament.
The teenager appeared emotional in the moments following the final darts. He was soon celebrating again when he got his hands on the trophy for the second year running.
In winning the tournament back-to-back, Littler becomes just the fourth player to do so. It comes after he won six major tournaments in 2025, with the new year getting off to the perfect start.
Speaking to Sky Sports, after lifting the trophy, Littler told Sky Sports: “I started playing a bit better from there (set three), obviously the first set, I wasn’t happy going into the break 1-0 down, but I just had to kick on from there.
“I said to myself again just give it time, you’ll find it. I started off at the left of the oche, I moved over to the right and it all came to plan.
“Gian, what a tournament, he can be very happy with himself, in every set, he was there, he was behind me and I had to take my chances.”
On the prize money he said: “It’s lifechanging, even for this tournament, for anyone, it’s been doubled, obviously, the winners, the runners up the semi-finalists.
“But it’s life changing, absolutely life changing, but this win has increased the gap to Luke Humphries and I’m clear as World number one.”
When asked what his first purchase will be, he responded with: “I don’t know, I can’t change car yet. We’ll have to see.”
