More than three decades after they first stepped onto the professional circuit together, snooker’s fabled Class of ’92—Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams—continue to defy every expectation about age and decline. All three have now passed the half-century mark, and yet the 2025/26 season has produced some of their most remarkable achievements.
Williams rewrote the record books at the Xi’an Grand Prix in October, crushing Shaun Murphy 10–3 to become the oldest-ever ranking event winner at 50 years and 206 days. In doing so, he broke Ray Reardon’s 43-year-old record and became the first player in history to win professional titles across five different decades—his teens, twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. His 27th ranking crown moved him fourth in the world rankings, ahead of both O’Sullivan and Higgins.
O’Sullivan, meanwhile, delivered one of the most extraordinary individual performances in the sport’s history at the 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters in Jeddah. The seven-time world champion compiled two maximum 147 breaks in the same match—a feat never before achieved in a single session—during his semi-final victory over Chris Wakelin. At 49 years and 253 days, he also became the oldest player ever to score an official maximum, extending his all-time record to 17 career 147s.
Higgins’ contribution has been no less impressive. At the 2026 Masters, the Scot became the oldest Triple Crown finalist in history at 50 years and 245 days, defeating both world champion Zhao Xintong and world number one Judd Trump en route to the final. Though he fell to Kyren Wilson 10–6 in the showpiece, his run was a masterclass in competitive longevity.
And then there is Neil Robertson—not a member of the Class of ’92, but a contemporary of similar vintage—who compiled the 1,000th century of his career during qualifying for the International Championship, joining an elite club in the sport’s history.
The enduring excellence of these players raises a fascinating question: is snooker unique among professional sports in allowing athletes to compete—and win—at the very highest level into their fifties? The evidence from this season suggests the answer is an emphatic yes. With the World Championship still to come, don’t bet against any of them making headlines again before the season is done.
