The 2024 World Snooker Championship final will be contested between Kyren Wilson and Jak Jones at the Crucible Theatre on Sunday and Monday.
The pair will clash for the sport’s biggest prize in Sheffield with the coveted silverware and a whopping cheque worth ยฃ500,000 up for grabs.
Number 12 seed Kyren Wilson sealed his spot in the title-deciding showdown after completing a 17-11 victory over David Gilbert on Saturday afternoon.
Several hours later, Jones continued his fairy tale run in the competition by becoming just the ninth qualifier in Crucible history to reach the final two – the Welshman beating Stuart Bingham 17-12.
It guarantees that there will be a new name on the trophy for a second successive season, with either Wilson or Jones to succeed Luca Brecel as the world champion.
Thirteen years ago, they faced each other twice at the inaugural Q School competition.
They were both starry-eyed teenagers at the time with ambitions of making it to the top of the game.
For Wilson, he has long established himself as a top 16 player having accumulated five ranking titles already during his career.
The 32 year-old has narrowly missed out on silverware at some of the calendar’s biggest events, including the World Championship in 2020 when he finished as runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Wilson talks himself up as one of the best players in the world, but he has so far failed to deliver any of the most prestigious titles – also losing in finals of the Masters, the Tour Championship, and the Champion of Champions.
In the 2024 World Snooker Championship final, the Kettering cueist will represent a pretty big favourite to set that record straight.
However, Wilson will have to be wary of the considerable threat posed by an opponent who has proven to be unflappable so far in Sheffield this year.
The unlikely challenge from Jones has seen him conjure a string of upsets as an underdog.
The 30 year-old, who was a quarter-finalist on his Crucible debut a year ago, has by his own admission not produced his best level – at least in the scoring department.
Yet in terms of his match craft and an ability to grind down esteemed players with hardened tactical play, he has been deadly.
Jones has possessed a handy knack of making his opponents perform badly and knocking them off their stride, a trait that he’ll hope to avail of again in the final.
Wilson will surely be desperate to avoid getting sucked into the plethora of long, drawn-out frames that Jones has become so adept at winning during this event already.
The duo’s head-to-head reads favourably for Wilson, although they have only encountered each other three times on the main tour.
Their most recent fixture was in the 2021 UK Championship when Jones suffered a heavy 6-0 defeat.
That the match was in the round of 64 goes some way to underlining just how far Jones has come since then.
Not only is this his first World Snooker Championship final, it’s his first ranking event final of any description since first turning professional in 2010.
How he copes with the pressure will be interesting to see, but he has already shown that his temperament is up there with the best the game has to offer.
If he can keep the scores tight, he will fancy his chances of becoming only third qualifier after Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy to land the trophy in Sheffield.
Wilson, by contrast, will know that the onus will be on him to score heavily and attempt to pull away – especially early on.
While it may not be the star-studded final many fans were hoping for or expecting at the start of the tournament, it still promises to be a compelling climax at the Crucible Theatre.
2024 World Snooker Championship Draw
Round 1 (bo19)
Luca Brecel (1) 9-10 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins (16) 10-9 Pang Junxu
Ali Carter (9) 7-10 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy (8) 10-5 Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby (5) 6-10 Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson (12) 10-1 Dominic Dale
John Higgins (13) 10-6 Jamie Jones
Mark Allen (4) 10-6 Robbie Williams
Judd Trump (3) 10-5 Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford (14) 10-6 Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda (11) 4-10 Jak Jones
Mark Williams (6) 9-10 Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui (7) 9-10 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson (10) 5-10 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins (15) 8-10 Ryan Day
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 10-1 Jackson Page
Round 2 (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-4 Robert Milkins (16)
Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy (8)
Joe O’Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson (12)
John Higgins (13) 13-12 Mark Allen (4)
Judd Trump (3) 13-7 Tom Ford (14)
Jak Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
Jack Lisowski 11-13 Stuart Bingham
Ryan Day 7-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Quarter-Finals (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson (12) 13-8 John Higgins (13)
Judd Trump (3) 9-13 Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Semi-Finals (bo33)
David Gilbert 11-17 Kyren Wilson (12)
Jak Jones 17-12 Stuart Bingham
Final (bo35)
Kyren Wilson (12) 18-14 Jak Jones
Click here for the latest live scores and session times.
Featured photo credit: WST
It’s hard to believe just how bad the players Jak Jones have been. Some of that boils down to the excellent tactical play from Jones that has caused many frames to go awkward. Much of the Bingham/Jones match yesterday was poor viewing.
Zhang Anda could only manage one break above 50 in all 14 frames in round one. Si Jiahui went 12 consecutive frames without producing a 50 break. Remarkably, Judd Trump toiled for 20 consecutive frames without a single 50 break. While Stuart Bingham made just one break above 50 in the last 18 frames of his semi-final. Jones himself has compiled 29 breaks over 50. No matter how good Jones’ matchplay has been, these players should still be doing better as they did get a good volume of openings.
Pot success has definitely been down this tournament. The benchmark of 90% hasn’t been passed as often as you expect. Jones won his semi-final with just an 84% pot success.
Are pot success stats available online somewhere, in terms of season data or historic data?
Not sure they are actually. I’d like to see some historic data.
Wilson is appearing in his 14th ranking final and his third Triple Crown final.
I hope the pattern of the final sees Wilson impose himself and produce a display of significant quality that asks Jones more questions than any of his current opponents managed. The Welshman is the biggest surprise finalist in the event’s history.
There’s been three Crucible finals between players from England and Wales before. Steve Davis defeated Doug Mountjoy in 1981 and Terry Griffiths in 1988. While Shaun Murphy pipped Matthew Stevens in 2005.
I noticed you heard the BBC commentary discussion on playing for snookers. I didn’t think you could view the BBC coverage in South Korea. My view is that no change should be made as it can be an interesting element of the game. That said, World Snooker imposing a cap of four snookers required wouldn’t meet any opposition from me.
I get the BBC commentary feed for this tournament when I watch on the Matchroom Live service.
I saw you were a day behind at one point when tuning in live!