What is the Crucible Curse? Which players have fallen victim to it and how Zhao Xintong could break it
For the last 49 years many players have fallen victim to a strange but true phenomenon commonly referred to as the Crucible Curse.
As attention turns to the World Snooker Championship, many experts are beginning to once again bring up the topic of the Crucible curse, and whether Zhao Xintong has what it takes to finally overcome it.
Defending champion Kyren Wilson (2024) was the most recent to experience the full effect of the curse when he fell to a defeat against debutant Lei Peifan in the first round, marking one of the biggest shock results of last year’s showpiece event. But what is the meaning behind the Crucible curse?
What is the Crucible curse?
The Crucible curse refers to the fact that no first-time champion has been able to retain the World Snooker Championship title since the tournament moved to the iconic Sheffield venue in 1977.
John Pulman, who won the World Championship for the first time in 1964 before defending his status as champion for seven successive tournaments is the last first time winner to retain his title, but since then nobody has achieved the feat.
Since the Crucible became the permanent home of snooker, a total of 20 winners have failed when attempting to defend their crown, and just two have reached the final these were Joe Johnson (1987) and Ken Doherty (1998), meaning no defending champion has even reached the final during the 21st century.
Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, widely regarded as one of the greatest to have played the sport, along with other legendary names such as Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Mark Selby among others have all fallen victim to the curse.
Here’s a full list of players that have fallen victim to the Crucible Curse and how they fared in their first title defence.
- John Spencer - Round 1 (1978)
- Terry Griffiths - Round 2 (1980)
- Cliff Thorburn - Semi-final (1981)
- Steve Davis - Round 1 (1982)
- Dennis Taylor - Round 1 (1986)
- Joe Johson - Final (1989)
- Stephen Hendry - Quarter-final (1991)
- Ken Doherty - Final (1998)
- John Higgins - Semi-final (1999)
- Mark Williams - Round 2 - (2001)
- Ronnie O’Sullivan - Semi-final (2002)
- Peter Abdon - Quarter-final (2003)
- Shaun Murphy - Quarter-final (2006)
- Graeme Dotty - Quarter-final (2007)
- Neil Robertson - Round 1 (2011)
- Mark Selby - Round 2 (2015)
- Stuart Bingham - Round 1 (2016)
- Judd Trump - Quarter-final (2020)
- Luca Brecel - Round 1 (2024)
- Kyren Wilson - Round 1 (2025)
Can Zhao Xintong break the Crucible curse?
Zhao Xintong is the bookmakers favourite to defend his World Championship after a stellar performance at the Tour Championship in Manchester.
In the semi-final, he defeated John Higgins 10-1, marking the biggest defeat of the Scotsman career, while he also turned on the style in the final by thrashing Judd Trump 10-3.
It’s little surprise to see he’s the favourite based on current form. However, he’ll face strong competition from some of the top talents the sport has to offer, including serial winners like Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby among others.
His first task sees him take on Liam Highfield and if he prevails through that test he’ll then face the winner of Ding Junhui and David Gilbert in the second round.