Sports Personality contender Littler's year in photos

Luke Littler is one of six contenders for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Here BBC Sport takes a look at the darts player's year in five photos.

Littler burst on to the scene on his World Darts Championship debut, beating players of the calibre of five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross en route to becoming the youngest player to reach the tournament's final, aged 16 years and 347 days.

Though Littler lost the World Championship final to Luke Humphries, he won £200,000 for finishing second - part of £1m prize money in his first year as a professional - and became a media sensation. Away from the oche, he has enjoyed Manchester United matches from the directors' box, a lap around Silverstone with Lando Norris, has his own darts merchandise range and is the face of a cereal brand.

Later in January, Littler beat Michael van Gerwen to win the Bahrain Darts Masters and earn his first PDC senior title. During that tournament, he became the youngest person to make a nine-darter - scoring 501 with the minimum number of darts required - on live television.

In May, Littler won the 2024 Premier League Darts - his first major PDC title - with an 11-7 victory over Luke Humphries at the O2 Arena in London. Littler, who won five of the 17 league nights, hit a nine-dart finish in the final.

In November, Littler won the Grand Slam of Darts for his first major ranking title. He thrashed qualifier Martin Lukeman 16-3 in the final in Wolverhampton, and moved to fifth place in the PDC's Order of Merit, having been ranked 164 a year previously.