At the age of just 22 years and 202 days, China’s Wu Yize became the second-youngest winner of the World Snooker Championship on Bank Holiday Monday when he beat Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a scintillating final. Compatriot Zhao Xintong won snooker’s top event at the Crucible Theatre last year, China’s first world champion in the sport. And now Wu has made it back-to-back victories for the country, as the balance of power in snooker appears to continue its eastward shift.
Remarkably, this was only Wu’s second-ever ranking title victory, and his first of the Triple Crown events. One thing we can be almost certain of: it won’t be his last. So let’s take a look back at Wu Yize’s path to glory in Sheffield, and ascertain whether we’ve seen enough to suggest he could build on this success and become a multiple champion.
How Wu Won the Snooker World Championship 2026
WU YIZE IS THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!! 🏆🌍
He beats Shaun Murphy in an EPIC DECIDER to become the Crucible King.#WorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/QfzEnY1BEU
— WST (@WeAreWST) May 4, 2026
Wu Yize’s opening round match was against another man from China, Lei Peifan, who beat Wu to win the Scottish Open in 2024 (to date, Lei’s only title victory). This time around, Wu avenged that defeat with an emphatic 10-2 triumph. The first round win represented progress after Wu had lost at that stage in each of the two previous World Championships at the Crucible. After that win, Wu said, “It is my dream to win it. I don’t know if I can do that, but I will give 100 per cent and enjoy each match.”
In the second round, Wu faced one of the greats of the modern era in the form of four-time world champion Mark Selby. Things looked ominous for the young man from China as Selby showed his class with breaks of 123 and 124 in the opening two frames. But Wu never looked overawed and went about his business with poise and confidence, and eventually won the match 13-10, and deservedly so. Selby sang his opponent’s praises in the after-match interviews, suggesting that Wu was “a world champion in the making”. And so it proved!
Wu possibly lucked out in the quarters as he was up against Hossein Vafaei after the Iranian had edged past one of the favourites, Judd Trump, in the previous round. We’ll never know what would have happened had Trump made it through, but Wu clearly didn’t mind as he put in a dominant display of potting power to win 13-8 and set up a semi-final showdown with gritty, dour Mark Allen. The Northern Irishman had made it to the semis twice before, but never to the final. It was a close game and included the longest-ever frame at the tournament in the Crucible era, as the players grafted through 100 minutes and 21 seconds before Wu claimed that and, ultimately, the match.
A Worthy Winner of a Fantastic Final
_2014-01-30_02.jpg){kind=link}
Wu’s opponent for the final was the World Championship winner from 2005, Shaun Murphy. Before this showpiece against Wu, “The Magician” had made it to the final three more times (in 2009, 2015, and 2021), but lost them all. He won the British Open earlier in the season, and also made the finals of the Xi’an Grand Prix and the German Masters, but it was during this tournament that Murphy really hit top form.
On his way to the final, Murphy faced and overcame three other players from China: Fan Zhengyi in the opening round (10-9), Xiao Guodong in the second round (13-3), and last year’s World Championship winner, Zhao Xintong, in the third round (13-10). Murphy then faced John Higgins, who was the oldest semi-finalist since Ray Reardon. It was a brilliant match that could have gone either way, Murphy pulled out some cracking long pots and his aggressive gameplay paid dividends as he edged it 17-15.
The final itself was high on quality and excitement, which isn’t always the case as the Crucible tension builds and players become prone to mistakes. Both Wu and Murphy played brilliant snooker, but it was the younger man who started faster, opening up a three-frame lead. Murphy hit back by winning the next four, before Wu levelled the opening session.
Wu got himself in front in the second session, with four 80+ breaks helping him into a 10-7 lead. But Murphy wasn’t done yet, and he took the next five frames on the bounce as Wu hit something of a blip. The young player found his resolve, however, and battled back to end the session 13-12 ahead.
Going into the evening session, the match was beautifully poised, and both players had opportunities to stamp their authority on the game. But neither could build an unassailable lead and, with the scores at 17-17, the final went to a deciding frame, the first time that had happened since 2002, when Peter Ebdon beat Stephen Hendry 18-17. Murphy was looking confident as he began to build a break, but he let Wu back to the table, and the man from China made no mistake, building a decisive break of 85 to land his first World Championship title.
How Good Could Wu Become?
The only man to have won the world title at a younger age was Stephen Hendry, who won the first of his seven World Championships at just 21 years and 106 days back in 1990. If Wu has half the career that Hendry enjoyed, he’ll go down as a great player. But could he even surpass the likes of Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, probably the greatest ever player to lift a cue?
Based on the snooker Wu Yize displayed at the Crucible over the last couple of weeks, he has a chance of becoming a true legend of the game. Time will tell whether Wu fulfils his immense potential, but we are confident he’s going to win a lot more world titles in the coming decade or two.