The 2026 three-cushion season so far: Merckx is world champion, Cho rules the World Cups

The 2026 three-cushion season has had two clear stories. Belgium’s Eddy Merckx is world champion again, and Korea’s Myung Woo Cho has been the man to beat on the World Cup tour. Here is how the year has gone so far.

World Championship, Blois: Merckx takes his third title

At the UMB World Championship in Blois, France (September 23 to 27), Eddy Merckx beat Vietnam’s Phuong Vinh Bao 50 to 39 in 19 innings in the final. It is Merckx’s third world title, after 2006 and 2012. He also had the best general average of the event, 1.993.

• Semifinals: Merckx beat Sameh Sidhom 50 to 48. Bao beat Tayfun Tasdemir 50 to 48.
• Best match: Frédéric Caudron, 40 points in 10 innings.
• High run: Myung Woo Cho, 16.

World Cups: the year of Myung Woo Cho

• Bogotá, Colombia (April): Myung Woo Cho beat Thanh Luc Tran, last year’s Bogotá winner, in the final.
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (May 18 to 25): Frédéric Caudron won, beating home favorite Hong Chiem Thai in a one-sided final.
• Ankara, Türkiye (June 8 to 14): Cho beat Dick Jaspers 50 to 49 in the closest possible final.
• Porto, Portugal (July 12 to 19): Eddy Merckx beat Korea’s Jung Han Heo 50 to 23 for his 15th World Cup win.
• Lier, Belgium (August 31 to September 7): Cho beat Jaspers again, 50 to 38 in 18 innings, with a high run of 21 along the way.

That is three World Cup wins for Cho this season. Dick Jaspers reached two finals and lost both to him. Vietnam’s players were everywhere: Phuong Vinh Bao made the world final and a World Cup semifinal, and Hong Chiem Thai reached the Ho Chi Minh City final and the Porto semifinal.

What it means for our community

Our biggest member countries are Colombia, Türkiye, Mexico, the United States, the Netherlands and Vietnam, and this season the World Cups visited three of them. Watch this page for weekend results through the rest of the season, and the monthly world rankings.

Sources: UMB, Blois World Championship; UMB, Lier World Cup; UMB, Porto World Cup; UMB, Ankara World Cup; UMB, Ho Chi Minh City World Cup; WCBS, Bogotá World Cup.