How high is 114.47?
High enough that the only name above it on the list belongs to Phil Taylor, and the match in question is nearly seventeen years old. Taylor averaged 118.14 beating Gary Anderson 10–3 in the 2009 quarter-finals, a figure that has survived every staging since. Littler finished 3.67 short of it.
The scale of the gap between 114.47 and ordinary major darts is easier to feel than to state. Littler was above 130 in the opening exchanges, led 4–0, and the match was effectively a question of whether Aspinall could stay in contact rather than whether he could win it. He got to within a leg at 5–4. Littler then won five of the next six.
Three days earlier the best average anyone had managed in Dortmund was Littler’s own, the 105.05 he threw past William O’Connor on Friday night. He beat that by more than nine points inside twenty-four hours, and the only number standing between the two is the one Aspinall threw while losing to him.
| Player | Average | Opponent | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Taylor | 118.14 | Gary Anderson | Quarter-final 2009 |
| Luke Littler | 114.47 | Nathan Aspinall | Round two 2026 |
| Phil Taylor | 113.92 | — | Last 16 2008 |
| Phil Taylor | 113.33 | — | Semi-final 2008 |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 113.04 | Terry Jenkins | Round one 2012 |
| Michael van Gerwen | 111.62 | — | Final 2016 |
| Jonny Clayton | 111.33 | James Wade | Round one 2019 |
| Phil Taylor | 111.03 | — | Round one 2009 |
| Michael van Gerwen | 111.00 | — | Quarter-final 2014 |
| Phil Taylor | 110.88 | — | Last 16 2009 |
Taylor accounts for five of the ten entries, every one of them from 2008 and 2009, the first two of the four straight titles he won to open the event’s history. Michael van Gerwen, who went out in round one this week, has two. The list is a reminder of how rare the territory is: before Saturday, Taylor was the only man who had ever taken this tournament into the 114s.
Aspinall threw above 105 and lost by five legs
The part of this that will irritate Aspinall is that he played well. DartsNews and dartn.de both put his average at 105.57, and a number in that region would usually win a major quarter-final comfortably. It bought him five legs out of fifteen. Sky Sports and Darts Planet TV both counted ten 180s from him, which is a heavy night’s scoring to take into a dressing room after losing by five.
At 105.57 he was finishing a 501 leg in a little over 14 darts on average. Littler was doing it in a shade over 13. Across a best of 19 that difference is most of a leg every three or four, which is roughly the margin the scoreline ended up showing.
It is not the highest an exit from this tournament has ever cost. Gerwyn Price averaged 107.56 in the 2021 quarter-finals and lost 10–8 to van Gerwen, which remains the highest losing average in the championship’s history. Aspinall now sits inside the small group of players beneath it, and the pattern has run all week in Dortmund — five of the ten best first-round averages belonged to men who lost.
Bars are scaled from a 90.00 baseline. Littler’s two averages are picked out in red. Source: Littler’s 114.47 from DartsNews, dartn.de, Dave.sport, Sky Sports, Darts Planet TV and Yahoo Sports; Aspinall’s 105.57 from DartsNews and dartn.de; the remaining figures as verified and published on this site earlier in the week. Averages carried by a single outlet, including Jonny Clayton’s and Josh Rock’s from Saturday, are left out.
What it sets up on Sunday
Littler plays Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals, in Sunday’s afternoon session and again over the best of 19. Ratajski came through 10–8 against Kevin Doets. The other three ties are Ross Smith against Luke Woodhouse, Price against Stephen Bunting, and Martin Schindler against Jonny Clayton, who completed the last eight late on Saturday by beating Josh Rock10–8. The semi-finals and final are played the same evening over the best of 21.
The European Championship is the one televised major Littler has not won, and until this week his best run here was a last-16 exit. An average like Saturday’s does not entitle him to anything on Sunday — the format resets, and three matches in a day is a different test from one. But it does mean that the seven men who came through the last 16 alongside him spent Saturday night watching the same number.
If 114.47 needs putting in context, our guide to what a three-dart average actually measures explains why a figure in the 114s works out at a 501 leg completed in a shade over 13 darts, sustained for the whole match. The championship’s format and prize structure covers what Sunday is worth, and the rest of the season is on the 2026 calendar.