World snooker rankings update: New Crucible king Wu Yize reaches career high in revised standings

The 22-year-old from China ousted Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a Crucible classic - the first deciding frame final since 2002 - to claim the 2026 World Snooker Championship crown.

Wu - who before this year's edition had never won a match on the Crucible stage - becomes the second youngest-ever winner of the sport's blue riband event, and goes back-to-back for his country after Zhao Xintong's historic triumph last year.

It has been a meteoric rise for former world under-21 champion Wu over the past couple of seasons. Having reached his first two ranking event finals during the 2024/25 campaign, the exciting young talent made his big breakthrough last November when he secured his maiden ranking accolade on home soil at the International Championship after defeating John Higgins in the final.

From starting the season in 20th, that triumph in Nanjing pushed Wu into the world's elite top 16 bracket for the first time.

Just a few months later, and Wu's second professional prize is the biggest of them all.

Collecting the £500,000 winner’s purse in Sheffield on Monday night - nearly triple his previous highest payday in the sport - Wu ascends six places in the revised world rankings from 10th to 4th. But as the reigning world champion, next season he'll be at least the number two seed for most of the tournaments on the calendar.

For the second consecutive year, Judd Trump finishes the professional snooker season as the world number one.

Trump has not been at his consistent best this term, but he still managed to reach five finals - ending a wait for a ranking crown at the German Masters - more than any other player.

Top of the global standings since August 2024, Trump's status will be in serious jeopardy later this year, though, when the half-a-million pounds he earned for winning the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters gets removed from his two-year rolling total.

Quarter-finalists at this year's World Championship, Neil Robertson (2nd) and Zhao (3rd) both go up a place in the updated rankings, and along with Wu, are in striking distance of usurping number one Trump next season. For the first time, two Chinese players are concurrently ranked inside the world’s top four.

Crucible runner-up Shaun Murphy is up two spots to sixth; near the start of the 2025/26 term, he briefly fell outside of the world's top 16 for the first time in over 19 years, and has therefore bounced back brilliantly with a win at the British Open and three further ranking event final appearances.

Mark Allen - who was within millimetres of knocking Wu out of the competition and putting himself in his first world final - goes up two places to 12th.

Kyren Wilson drops six spots from 2nd to 8th following his last 16 exit this year. The reason for such a dip is because the 2024 World Champion was defending £500,000 from his cumulative tally.

A bit further down the rankings, the person who Wilson defeated in the Crucible final 24 months ago - Jak Jones - also slides from 19th to 32nd, as £200,000 is removed from his lot.

After the 2026 World Snooker Championship, no one has moved in or out of the top 16, with 15th placed Ding Junhui and 16th Si Jiahui swapping places.

Seven-times world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan - who was pipped by fellow 'Class of 92' graduate John Higgins in round two in Sheffield - goes down two spots from 12th to 14th.

O'Sullivan has not won a ranking title since January 2024, although he did come close twice this season with runner-up finishes at the Saudi Masters in August and World Open in March.

Elsewhere inside the world's top 32, Chinese duo Pang Junxu (25th) and Lei Peifan (26th) both qualified for the Crucible again, and go up four steps each. As too does Hossein Vafaei (32nd to 28th) who was the best performing qualifier at this year's Championship after eliminating Si and Trump en route to a personal best quarter-final outcome at the Crucible.

Stuart Bingham (17th to 21st) and David Gilbert (25th to 31st) both fall several places having been semi-finalists at the 2024 Championship.

With the 2026 World Snooker Championship being the final event of the 2025/26 professional season, tour survival and relegation was concluded. Visit here for a previous report on that.

Visit snooker.org here for the full, unofficial end-of-season snooker rankings, including positional changes.