 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 April – 2 May 2022 |
| Venue | Crucible Theatre |
| City | Sheffield |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | World Snooker Tour |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £2,395,000 |
| Winner's share | £500,000 |
| Highest break |
|
| Final | |
| Champion |  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Judd Trump (ENG) |
| Score | 18–13 |
← 2021 2023 → | |
The 2022 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2022 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 2022 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 46th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the venue. The 16th and final ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, the tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport, and elsewhere in the world by Matchroom Sport and other broadcasters. The total prize fund was £2,395,000, of which the winner received £500,000.
Qualifying rounds for the tournament took place from 4 to 13 April 2022 at the English Institute of Sport, featuring 128 professional and invited amateur players. The main stage of the tournament featured 32 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and another 16 players from the qualifying rounds. Ashley Hugill, Jackson Page, and Hossein Vafaei were debutants at the Crucible, Vafaei being the first Iranian player to reach the main stage. Mark Selby was the defending champion, having won the 2021 final 18–15 against Shaun Murphy. He lost 10–13 to Yan Bingtao in a second-round match that produced the longest frame ever played at the Crucible, lasting 85 minutes.
Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled Steve Davis's record of 30 Crucible appearances. He reached a record 20th quarter-final and a record 13th semi-final before defeating Judd Trump 18–13 in the final to equal Stephen Hendry's modern era record of seven world titles. It was O'Sullivan's 39th ranking title and 21st Triple Crown title. Aged 46 years and 148 days, he became the oldest world champion in the sport's history, surpassing Ray Reardon, who was aged 45 years and 203 days when he won his last world title in 1978. O'Sullivan also broke Hendry's record of 70 wins at the Crucible, setting a new record of 74.
Neil Robertson made a maximum break in his second-round match against Jack Lisowski, the fifth of his career and the 12th time a 147 had been achieved at the Crucible. Graeme Dott also made a maximum break in his third-round qualifying match against Pang Junxu, the second of his career and the fifth time that a maximum had been made in the World Championship qualifiers. The main stage produced a record 109 century breaks, surpassing the 108 centuries made the preceding year. Mark Williams made 16 centuries during the event, equalling the record set by Hendry in 2002.