Snooker wonderkid on track to create Crucible history after latest qualifying win

The Pole - who only turned 15-years-old in January - defeated Sanderson Lam, 10-8, to move within two more wins of an incredible Crucible debut.

Having seen off three-time world women's champion Ng On Yee in the opening round earlier this week - becoming the youngest player ever to win a match in the world professional snooker championship - Szubarczyk faced world number 65 Lam for more history.

Rookie professional Szubarczyk got off to an ideal start, depositing the opening three frames before going on to lead 5-3 overnight.

Returning the next afternoon for their concluding session, though, opponent Lam took three of the opening four frames to make it 6-6 - the first time he’d been level since the start of the tie.

However, Szubarczyk - who struck a 93 in frame 10 - regrouped after the mid-session interval, compiling a run of 114 before taking the following two frames to reach hill first at 9-6 up.

Battling to keep his professional tour card as well as staying in the tournament, Lam (93 break, frame 16) claimed back-to-back frames to close the gap to one, and looked like forcing a decider as he led 63-0 in points in frame 18.

But Szubarczyk produced a classy counter clearance of 64 to steal the frame by a single point and set up a meeting with Hossein Vafaei later this week at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

The youngest cueist to play in the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre is Belgium’s Luca Brecel who was 17 years and 45 days when he faced Stephen Maguire in 2012 in round one proper. Szubarczyk can smash that record over the coming days.

Stephen Hendry still holds the record of being the youngest-ever world professional snooker champion; the Scot was aged 21 years and 106 days when he won the first of his seven world crowns in 1990.

Having reached the final of the open-age European Amateur Snooker Championship last year, Szubarczyk qualified for the World Snooker Tour and became the youngest player to compete at the highest level.

The former world under-21 and reigning European under-18 champion has made a really encouraging start to his top-flight career. He won multiple matches at the Saudi Arabia Masters, and qualified for the main venue stages of the Xi'an Grand Prix, International Championship, and Welsh Open.

Regardless of what happens in the rest of this competition, Szubarczyk will be back on the pro scene next term as he has a two-year tour card.

Szubarczyk wasn't the only youngster to impress on the baize on Thursday afternoon in South Yorkshire as 18-year-old Wang Xinbo also advanced.

Competing as an invited amateur due to reaching the finals of both the World Snooker Federation Junior and Open events earlier this year, China's Wang racked up breaks of 143, 104 and 117 in a 10-4 win over Iulian Boiko.

The effort of 143 is the biggest break of the competition, so far, and puts Wang in line for the £15,000 bonus.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Championship qualifying rounds, visit here.