Luke Littler produced an incredible run to the Grand Slam of Darts title, made all the more remarkable by what he was fuelled by on his way to the trophy.
The 17-year-old was in stunning form throughout the event, averaging over 100 in all seven of his matches in Wolverhampton.
The knockout stages saw him edge Mike De Decker 10-9, thrash Jermaine Wattimena 16-2 and then squeeze past Gary Anderson 16-15 in a classic semi-final.
This set-up a clash with surprise finalist Martin Lukeman in the showpiece and he romped to a 16-2 win, averaging 107 on his way to the £150,000 top prize.
Lukeman was in awe of the teenage talent after the heavy defeat, stunned by the level of performance he put in, especially after watching him before the match and at the break.
‘He is a joke. That’s how good he is, it’s absolutely ridiculous,’ said Lukeman. ‘He has a Boost, a meal deal, a curry, walks up there and smashes me like that. I’m like, what?
‘He’s literally had a curry, a Boost and a couple of them little sweets that are half pink, half white, what are they? Squashies! He’s eating squashies at half-time. I’m having a fag, having a water!
‘I take my hat off for him, he’s absolutely awesome and I wish him the best, him and his family.’
Lukeman was playing in his first televised final and won £70,000 for his efforts in a brilliant week for the 39-year-old.
Unsurprisingly he sees Littler picking up a lot more titles in the future, perhaps even more than the legendary 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.
‘It’s just different, man,’ he said. ‘If he gets his head on, forget about Michael van Gerwen’s records he’s going to beat Phil Taylor’s records.
‘If he keeps his head right, stays away from drink, girls, whatever, that boy is going to go very, very far. He’s going to break records ridiculously.
‘How can you compete with that? It’s like godly. Can you leave off? Give me a couple of legs to get into it! He’s just relentless, he’s so good. Ridiculous.’
Littler gave a typically down to earth response when asked how he plans to celebrate his win.
‘I’ll probably just go home and play on my X-box,’ he said. ‘Just chill.’
The teenager is now up to number five in the world rankings after claiming his 10th title of the year, becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat after Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright.
Next up is the Players Championship Finals, starting on Friday, before attention turns to the World Championship next month.
‘I knew coming into the tournament, if I did get my hands on the trophy I’d be up to number five in the world,’ he said.
‘There’s still more ranking tournaments to go this year, so hopefully I can go a bit higher than number five!
‘I cannot wait to play in both events. Hopefully I can have a deep run in Minehead, and then it’s all eyes on the big one – the World Championship!’
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