Is this snooker's 'brave new world' as inexperienced overseas talent learn to crack Crucible code

Chinese star Wu - who before this season had never won a ranking event, had never been ranked inside the world’s top 16, and had never won a match at the Crucible - pipped Murphy 18-17 on snooker’s grandest stage in the first deciding frame final since 2002.

Only 22-years-old - the same age Murphy was when he claimed his maiden crown in 2005 - Wu becomes the second youngest world snooker champion of all-time, only eclipsed by Stephen Hendry who was a year younger when he secured the first of his seven world titles in 1990.

Wu’s triumph means that for the first time in the history of snooker’s blue riband event there have been four new winners in as many years. In comparison, between 2003 to 2022 - 20 stagings - there were six new winners in total.

All four of these recent maiden Crucible champions have been aged 32 years or younger. This unprecedented sequence started with Luca Brecel’s swashbuckling success in 2023.

Like Wu’s effort this year, Brecel had never won a game on the Crucible stage, but broke his duck with a deciding frame win over Ricky Walden in the opening round before dispatching three-time world champion Mark Williams, and then defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals - winning seven consecutive frames from 10-6 down.

Brecel then produced the biggest comeback in Crucible history - numbers wise, anyway - as he recovered from 14-5 adrift to deny Si Jiahui 17-15 in the semis before getting the better of four-time champion Mark Selby 18-15 in the final.

The following year, Kyren Wilson achieved his dream of lifting the famous silver trophy, although he had been close before with a runner-up finish in 2020, and two semi-final results from 2018 and 2021.

A new world title winner was guaranteed from the 2024 final, as Wilson played qualifier Jak Jones, who was on only his second Crucible excursion.

In 2025, Zhao Xintong created history in becoming the first player from Asia to win snooker’s premier prize, and he did it without a professional tour card at the time.

Having been invited due to his performances on the amateur Q Tour circuit earlier that season - after coming back to the sport following the expiration of his ban - Zhao had to navigate all four qualifying rounds merely to reach the main draw, televised stages.

And having only played at the Crucible twice before with one match win to his name, Zhao was never really in trouble throughout the 17 days, brushing aside O’Sullivan in the semi-finals with a session to spare on his one-table debut before defeating Williams 18-12 in the title tie.

Fast forward twelve months, and a different player with a Chinese flag draped around his shoulders was celebrating the biggest win of his life in Sheffield, as Wu went back-to-back for his country.

On only his third Crucible trip, Wu was appearing in the draw as a seed player for the first time. The youngster opened his account at the venue with a 10-2 round one crushing of compatriot Lei Peifan before passing the stern test of four-time world champion and reigning UK Champion Mark Selby 13-11 in the last 16.

After eliminating the last remaining qualifier in the draw, Hossein Vafaei, in the last eight, he came through an extraordinary semi-final affair against former world number one Mark Allen, who missed a usually straightforward black ball to book himself a spot in the final.

Then at the end game, Wu got the better of Murphy - who was featuring in his fifth world final - to collect the £500,000 top prize.

China waited nearly 100 years for its first world snooker champion, now its first two victors have arrived in successive editions. Zhao and Wu now both find themselves inside the world’s top four, with scope to rise higher next season.

Only six players from outside of the United Kingdom have conquered the Crucible, and the three most recent have come within the last four years - Brecel, Zhao, Wu.

Between these three they had only one Crucible match win before achieving their finest moments in the sport. Perhaps Crucible experience doesn’t count as much these days as it once did, and maybe a new style of play is required to last the near two-and-a-half week marathon.