Mark Allen wrote his name into Crucible history with a maximum 147 break at the World Snooker Championship – but fell to a 13-6 defeat in his second-round match against Chris Wakelin.
Resuming 6-2 behind, Allen endured a nightmare first half of the morning session, losing all four frames to fall 10-2 down and at risk of going out with a session to spare. Wakelin hit breaks of 119, 71 and 75 as his opponent failed to pot a ball for three frames, immediately heading to the practice table at the interval.
In the next frame, Allen sank a long red to end his drought and quickly manoeuvred his way to a maximum chance. After potting 15 reds and 15 blacks, the world No 8 almost snookered himself behind the blue, but was able to dispatch the yellow – and a tricky pink – before rolling in the final black to huge cheers.
Allen’s 147 is the first at the Crucible since 2023, when Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson both achieved the feat. His is the 15th maximum to be made at the world championship, and will earn him a £40,000 prize money bonus. In qualifying, Jackson Page earned a £147,000 cheque for hitting two 147s in the same match.
Wakelin, who warmly congratulated his opponent on his achievement, was still in the driving seat at 10-3 ahead and took two of the session’s remaining three frames to lead 12-4.
1983 Cliff Thorburn (2nd round v Terry Griffiths, won 13-12)
1992 Jimmy White (1st round v Tony Drago, won 10-4)
1995 Stephen Hendry (Semi-final v Jimmy White, won 16-12)
1997 Ronnie O'Sullivan (1st round v Mick Price, won 10-6)
2003 Ronnie O'Sullivan (1st round v Marco Fu, lost 10-6)
2005 Mark Williams (1st round v Robert Milkins, won 10-1)
2008 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2nd round v Mark Williams, won 13-7)
2008 Ali Carter (Quarter-final v Peter Ebdon, won 13-9)
2009 Stephen Hendry (Quarter-final v Shaun Murphy, lost 13-11)
2012 Stephen Hendry (1st round v Stuart Bingham, won 10-4)
2020 John Higgins (2nd round v Kurt Maflin, lost 13-11)
2022 Neil Robertson (2nd round v Jack Lisowski, lost 13-12)
2023 Kyren Wilson (1st round v Ryan Day, won 10-5)
2023 Mark Selby (Final v Luca Brecel, lost 18-15)
2025 Mark Allen (2nd round v Chris Wakelin)
In the evening Allen came out fighting and rattled off the first two frames. In the second he potted 11 reds and 10 blacks to give himself a chance of another 147 but ran out of position and missed a thin cut on the black. Wakelin took the next to complete his win.
On the other table, the three-time world champion Mark Williams and Iran’s Hossein Vafaei ended a gruelling, three-hour first session level at 4-4. One fan who could be forgiven for getting distracted by news from the other table was Brian Nicholls. The 75-year-old won the session’s audience lottery, and knew he would win £25,000 if there was a maximum break on either table. Seated on the wrong side of the partition, Nicholls ended up watching Allen’s maximum break on a monitor.
Williams gained a 9-7 lead after their evening session, with Vafaei making a 132 clearance in the final frame of the night. They will play to a finish on Saturday afternoon.
John Higgins and Xiao Guodong remain locked together at 8-8 at the end of the second session of their second-round match, which concludes on Saturday morning.
The four-time champion Higgins looked set to start pulling away from his opponent after getting two snookers he required to force a respotted black when he led 7-6. But after appearing to have done enough to clinch the frame with a fine cut, he went in-off to hand the frame to Xiao and the last two of a fascinating and hard-fought session were shared.
If Higgins and Williams both come through, the two Class of 92 legends, who have won seven world titles between them, will meet in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Zhao Xintong will take a 5-3 lead into Saturday’s session of his clash with Chinese compatriot Lei Peifan, who knocked out the defending champion, Kyren Wilson.
On Saturday afternoon Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his second-round match against Pang Junxu, while in the evening Ding Junhui starts his clash with Luca Brecel, and Si Jiahui takes on Ben Woollaston, the conqueror of Mark Selby.
Hearn warns Crucible days could be numbered
Since first hosting the world championship in 1977, Sheffield’s Crucible theatre has been the spiritual home of snooker – but Barry Hearn has again warned the venue is no longer “fit for purpose”.
With the hosting contract expiring in two years, Matchroom, which has largely controlled snooker since 2010, is heavily involved in negotiations and Hearn says ideally the World Snooker Tour (WST) wants to stay. But the 76-year-old, whose son Eddie is the Matchroom chairman, has called on Sheffield city council to expand the venue or face losing the event.
“It’s black and white: we love the Crucible, we love Sheffield, but the Crucible and Sheffield have got to love us,” Hearn, the former chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We want to stay but the financials have to be taken into consideration. The facilities where the Crucible is are no longer fit for purpose, that’s the key issue. The Crucible’s been a big part of my life and a big part of snooker’s life. But it has to move with the times and someone, whether it’s government or Sheffield, have to come up with a way of showing us that they’re going to treat us with respect and give us the type of facilities we require. It’s as simple as that.
“Maybe we should take this worldwide. Maybe it should be one year in Beijing, one year in Saudi and one year in Sheffield. We have to move with the times,” Hearn added. “I’m concerned with increasing the prize money as we have done with darts. Snooker needs to be more commercially viable.”
Hearn warned: “The contract period ends in 2027 and we need a decision soon. We want to stay in Sheffield, so show me the way.”
Last week the WST, Sheffield city council and Sheffield Theatres said that due to the “sensitive and commercial nature of these ongoing discussions”, no announcement would be made during this year’s event.
