New world seniors champion Ronnie O'Sullivan creates unique slice of snooker history

Only a few weeks on from his record-extending 34th appearance at the world professional snooker championship, O’Sullivan returned to the Crucible Theatre to make his playing debut in a different category, competing in the annual flagship event on the World Seniors Snooker Tour.

Following the recent relaxation of who is eligible to play in the World Seniors Snooker Championship, 50-year-old O’Sullivan - although the age threshold for the seniors circuit is currently 40 - made his bow in the event at the last 16 stage, defeating Ken Doherty 4-1 before coming back for the evening session where he dispatched a former winner of the title, Peter Lines, 4-2 in a high-quality affair.

In the semi-finals and now played within the one-table Crucible set-up, O’Sullivan took the final three frames to get past Robert Milkins, 7-5, before fashioning five century breaks during a 10-4 victory over reigning British Seniors Open champion and number two seed Joe Perry in Sunday’s two-session final.

It has been a trophyless spell on the professional circuit over the past couple of seasons for the player widely regarded as snooker’s greatest of all time, so this accolade will be warmly welcomed by O’Sullivan and his legion of fans - irrespective of it being an event away from the sport’s top-flight.

There has been much online debate as to whether someone who is still ranked inside the world’s top 16 should even be allowed in the seniors, and if it goes against the spirit of why the competition was originally created, but O’Sullivan’s success in the tournament was far from guaranteed.

Mark Williams - who is currently ranked several places higher than O’Sullivan in the professional standings - was initially in the draw before withdrawing, but Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, Matthew Stevens and Robert Milkins all participated.

Bingham - who was defeated by Lines - has twice gotten the better of O’Sullivan on the Crucible stage before, meanwhile Carter came out on top of his last meeting with O’Sullivan at the German Masters last February.

O’Sullivan the first to win world junior, professional and seniors titles

The World Seniors Snooker Championship is not a new concept, although down the years it has appeared under several different guises.

Cliff Wilson was the first champion in 1991, although the event did not return until 2010 when Jimmy White won it.

Over the past several years, the Championship has found stability under the stewardship of promoter Jason Francis, with the governing body the World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association also throwing its support behind it. Since 2019, it has been played on snooker's grandest stage of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

O'Sullivan is the 14th different winner in the history of the event, although only record four-time champion White has claimed the crown on multiple occasions.

Following in the footsteps of Steve Davis (2013) and Mark Williams (2015), O'Sullivan becomes the third player to have won both the world professional and seniors titles.

However, 'The Rocket' becomes the first cueist in history to have won the world under-21, professional, and seniors gongs.

His world under-21 glory in 1991 - when he defeated the late Patrick Delsemme 11-4 in the final held in Bangalore, India - came the year before he turned professional. Neither Davis or Williams won this junior prize, although in the case of Davis, the world under-21 wasn't held until 1987.

Ken Doherty has come very close to going one step further, though, in the past at the World Seniors Snooker Championship having won both the world junior and world amateur titles in 1989, and the professional crown in 1997.

The Irishman has twice nearly completed a history-making quadruple, reaching the final of the seniors in 2020 and 2024 where he was denied by White and Igor Figueiredo on those respective occasions. Against White, Doherty was 4-0 up but lost 5-4 as his opponent successfully defended the title.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.