Kyren Wilson won the 2024 World Snooker Championship after completing a nervy 18-14 triumph over Jak Jones on Monday in Sheffield.
The 32 year-old becomes the sport’s newest Crucible king after holding off a late fight back in the title-deciding showdown.
Wilson, who pockets the ยฃ500,000 winner’s cheque, never relinquished his lead after orchestrating a commanding 7-0 advantage early on.
The Englishman produced a strong opening session on Sunday, becoming the first player since Stephen Hendry in 1993 to start a world final with a century break.
Contributions of 52, 66, 62, 125, and 90 followed as the 12th seed set about landing the biggest title of his career.
At this point, there were fears that the fixture could conclude with a session to spare.
But Jones, who had fought his way through the qualifying competition before conjuring a string of upsets at the Crucible, valiantly fought back.
Wilson added another brace of century breaks in the second session, but his opponent scrambled his way into contention and trailed by only four frames heading into a pivotal final frame on day one.
The latter had opportunities to remarkably draw to within three frames overnight, but Wilson got the snooker he required and duly won a dramatic black-ball battle to pull five clear again.
Much of the second day of the final proved to be of a lower standard as both contenders appeared to struggle with the enormity of the occasion.
Jones did manage to get to within three frames back, but Wilson was ultimately able to halt the Welshman’s progress.
A series of spurned opportunities and unexpected misses meant that they each had several chances in most of the remaining frames.
Wilson drew on his greater experience at this level to win the last two frames of the third session and the opening frame of the last session to restore a six-frame lead at 16-10.
To his credit, Jones never gave up and, either side of losing a gut-wrenching respotted black, compiled timely breaks of 105 and 67 to take the game to the last mid-session interval.
He then won the next two after the resumption, including a run of 96 where he missed the 13th red while on a maximum break.
By now, Wilson looked rattled and he struggled to make any significant contributions when he got in among the balls.
He needed several bites at the cherry in the 32nd frame, but Wilson finally constructed a tournament-clinching break before emotionally punching the air in delight.
Kyren Wilson first turned professional in 2010, dropping off the tour after his first season before playing Jones at the inaugural Q School competition in 2011.
It took another couple of years for the Kettering cueist to make it back to the pro circuit, but it wasn’t long after that he began to make a name for himself.
A memorable triumph at the 2015 Shanghai Masters initiated his rise and a quarter-final appearance at the Crucible later that same season helped him to join the top 16 for the first time.
Further success in the following campaigns came in the Paul Hunter Classic, the German Masters, the Championship League, and the European Masters.
But Wilson somewhat developed a reputation as a nearly man, losing high-profile matches at some of the most prestigious events.
That included painful reverses in finals of the World Championship, the Masters, the Champion of Champions, and the Tour Championship.
Through all the disappointment, however, Wilson never stopped believing in his ability and constantly talked up his game as being among the very best in the world.
He didn’t have much form heading into the 2024 World Snooker Championship, but a dominant 10-1 thrashing of Dominic Dale in the last 32 got him into gear again.
Victories then came against Joe O’Connor, John Higgins, and David Gilbert – the latter opponent arguably providing Wilson’s greatest test during this year’s tournament.
In the final, the new world number three struggled at times towards the end but produced his best form in the early frames that ultimately proved to be the determining sequence of play in his success.
How he got there won’t matter, with the name Kyren Wilson now forever to be engraved onto the famous World Snooker Championship trophy.
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
Wilson wins his sixth ranking title, drawing level with Stephen Maguire, Ken Doherty and Stuart Bingham.
The first time since 2015 we’ve had first time winners in consecutive years at the Crucible.
The family scenes that ensued were a great reminder of the importance that the family so often plays in providing the foundation for a player’s career. Bailey and Taylor deserve credit for going over to Jak Jones in the immediate aftermath of the final. Bailey and Finley are becoming stars in their own right!
A good final in the end which elevated my championship grading to 7.5.
World Championship 2024 Awards:
Best Match: Higgins v Allen, Round 2
Best Single Match Performance: Stuart Bingham v Ronnie O’Sullivan
Best Break: John Higgins making 71 in the decider against Allen.
Best Analyst: John Parrott
Biggest Upset: Jak Jones beating Judd Trump
Kyren Wilson certainly deserved to win this championship, he was the only player to sustain an upward curve in his competitiveness after Gilbert had seemed the strongest form player in the first couple of rounds. Jak Jones has prospered from grinding great wins against underperforming opponents but in the final Wilson played well enough for long enough to negate that possibility for Jones.
Overall a disappointment of a championship however with largely poor quality performances from the majority of the players; some poor tables with unreliable cushions and cloth that seemed to increase the number of bad contacts and miscues. Added to this the referees had some poor moments where their decisions were strange, including in the potentially final frame of the championship when not warning Jones for three misses. The Crucible looked quite unappealing on the TV coverage with bland and vague decor and a poor quality finish to the look of the furniture. An inability to organise the movement of fans in session intervals and between frames was also unappealing from The Crucible. The crowds were also of a poor quality: so many empty seats at every stage of every session barring the last half hour of the final, and not a lot of evidence of the famed warm Crucible murmur.