Belgium's Luca Brecel became the first player from mainland Europe to claim snooker's World Championship with an 18-15 win over Mark Selby in Sheffield.
Brecel, 28, is just the fourth non-British winner at the Crucible and the first overseas player to triumph since Neil Robertson in 2010.
Brecel won six of Monday afternoon's eight frames to open up a 15-10 lead.
A visibly emotional Brecel sealed victory and the £500,000 top prize by taking three frames in the evening.
"It's amazing. [Selby is] the worst opponent to have in the final. He just keeps coming back, he's such a fighter and at 16-15, I didn't fancy winning at all to be honest," Brecel told BBC Sport.
"I was missing balls by a mile. I don't know how I did it. Once I got to 17, I fancied it if I got a chance to clear up, which I did. It's a great feeling."
Despite becoming the youngest player to ever participate in the tournament in 2012, aged 17 years and 45 days, the 'Belgian Bullet' had remarkably never won a single match at the famous venue until this year, losing in the first round on his five previous visits.
"Snooker is a difficult sport and in the first round [this year] I could have lost to Ricky Walden - I beat him 10-9," he added.
"If I'd have lost that game then everybody would have said 'he's lost again in the first round' and now I'm the winner, that's the small margins in snooker, it's crazy. I still can't believe it."
It is a moment that has long been in the making for Brecel, who climbs eight places to finish the season second in the world rankings behind Ronnie O'Sullivan.
But it only arrived after he had come through the sternest of examinations from England's four-time world champion Selby, who won five consecutive frames and scored 315 points without reply at one stage to get back to 16-15.
With the tension rising Brecel knocked in a timely 51 to leave himself on the brink of victory, which he confirmed with a stylish 112 break.
Source: BBC
