Jak Jones heartbroken but proud after Snooker World Championship final loss to emotional Kyren Wilson

Kyren Wilson has been crowned the winner of the 2024 Snooker World Championship. He defeated Welsh hopeful Jak Jones 18-14 on Monday evening at the Crucible to win his first World Championship title.

Kettering-born Wilson had taken a commanding lead early on against Jones, the 30-year-old from Cwmbran who captured the heart of fans by marching through the rounds and into his first ever final.

The Welshman looked like he could be on the wrong end of a heavy defeat earlier on with Wilson racing into a 7-0 lead before Jones fought back to bring it to 11-6 heading into the final session of the final on Monday.

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Jones is the third lowest ranked player ever to reach the final and defeated a host of big names on his way including Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham. But Wilson was on deadly form, and despite a valiant effort to close the gap, Jones missed several key chances and was unable to make enough of a dent in Wilson's lead in the closing stages despite bringing it back to 17-14.

It was a nervy end for Wilson, who failed to take major chances to get over the line, he sealed victory just after 10pm on Monday and was congratulated by Jones before he became visibly emotional as he was embraced by his brother and children.

Afterwards, Jones said Wilson "deserves it so much" and added: "About a month ago I was twitching in my first qualifying match. It's been a long month but I'm happy with it."

He candidly admitted he hadn't carried "a lot of hope" going into the final but that he hoped his showing would help him "move forward in a good way."

Wilson praised Jones on his first final and said he had "conducted himself in an amazing fashion and I'm sure he will be back." He added that the crowd had been well behind the Welshman, joking: "I don't know if there is any people left in Wales, the amount they were cheering for him! They made it a fantastic atmosphere."

Despite the loss, it has been a successful tournament for Jones, who by qualifying for the semi-finals had already secured the largest single amount of prize money of his career. He leaves as runner-up with a £200,000 sum from the prize pot, while Wilson netted a cool £500,000 as champion.