Mark Allen has made a maximum 147 break at theWorld Snooker Championship, writing his name into Crucible history – but still faces an uphill battle to avoid elimination in his second-round match with 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, at risk of losing with a session to spare. Wakelin hit breaks of 119, 71 and 75 as Northern Ireland’s Allen 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 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 with a 10-3 lead and three more frames to play on Friday morning. On the other table, Mark Williams and Iran’s Hossein Vafaei were locked at two frames all at the mid-session interval.
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 WorldSnookerTour (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.”
Hearn’s Matchroom Sport also runs darts, which draws crowds of several thousands to large arenas and subsequently can offer huge prize money. He believes snooker must go the same way – but the Crucible can hold only 980 people.
“The Crucible’s been a big part of my life and a big part of snooker’s life,” Hearn said. “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 issued a statement saying that due to the “sensitive and commercial nature of these ongoing discussions”, no announcement would be made during this year’s event.