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Ranking snooker's world champions of all time if they were all in their absolute prime today; Ronnie O'Sullivan takes top spot but what about the rest?

By Chris Hammer

Snooker

Sun May 12, 2024 · 7M ago

Prior to Kyren Wilson there had been 22 different snooker world champions crowned at the Crucible since 1977, but if they were all at the peak of their powers today, what would the top five in the rankings look like?

Ronnie O'Sullivan, who has won seven world titles and 23 Triple Crowns in his record-breaking career would be at the top of almost everyone's list but the other places in this list are up for grabs and can be debated for the remaining years that the Crucible stages the World Championship.

Would you favour the Rocket's fellow 'class of 92' members John Higgins and Mark Williams ahead of legendary Crucible kings Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis - or would you pick more modern stars such as Mark Selby or Judd Trump.

Although the statistics of title tallies and centuries might not stack up for an undeniable genius in Alex Higgins, imagine if he happened to be operating at his peak performance levels in an era where the advanced professionalism could have helped him stay more focused on snooker.

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You have to imagine the legends of the past would also be benefitting from the standard of coaching, practice methods and prize money that these modern-day stars enjoy - not to mention the increased knowledge of the psychological side of the game.

Some players, fans and pundits today will argue the standard of the sport has improved overall throughout the decades but if you imagine Davis and Hendry were in today's era - would their competitive and mental edge allow them to reach the performance levels needed to succeed today.

Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion, makes an interesting case for Ray Reardon due to his tactical prowess and ability to put your 'head in a bin' - so it's certainly not a case of measuring cold hard stats across the eras.

As well as Murphy, we also posed this question to Mark Williams, Ali Carter, Robert Milkins and this year's World Championship finalist Kyren Wilson and they all gave different top fives and reasons. The only agreement was that O'Sullivan was at the top.

We also discussed this debate on our preview show with Abigail Davies, Richard Mann and Nick Metcalfe and you can check out their top fives below.

🏆 If every snooker world champion were in their prime, what would the top five in the rankings be?

We've heard from the players, but what about our panel of @swanabi, @Nick_Metcalfe and @Richard_Mann11? Do you agree?pic.twitter.com/WwO2ZBjTDf https://t.co/JxbuC3ekRN
— Sport on Sporting Life (@SLSport_) May 6, 2024