Rise and fall: Ranking changes after the 2024 World Snooker Championship

Unsurprisingly given the magnitude of the event and the prize money on offer, there are several big changes to the world rankings after Kyren Wilson’s victory on Monday night at the 2024 World Snooker Championship.

We analyse the main talking points following the latest update and how players will be ordered at the start of the new 2024/25 season.

• A simple guide to how the world snooker rankings work

Players moving up

The biggest story is that Mark Allen is the new world number one, an accolade he has earned for the first time in his career.

Despite a heart-breaking last 16 exit on the final black, Allen also lost at that same stage two years ago, so did not lose any prize money from his cumulative total. He moved up from third in the list and becomes just the 12th different world number one in professional snooker history.

New world champion Kyren Wilson went into the Championship as the world number 12 - his lowest seeding position for several years - but the £500,000 he scooped rises him up to third, his highest ever ranking.

The biggest mover is Jak Jones who improved by a huge 30 places from 44 to 14. He’ll start the new campaign in the world’s elite top 16 for the first time in his career.

Semi-finalists David Gilbert (up nine places to 22) and Stuart Bingham (up four places to 25) will now be looking towards returning to the top 16, while Robbie Williams also made a tidy profit (up nine places to 36).

Players moving down

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 25-month unbroken spell at the top of the rankings came to an end, as he goes down four places to fifth in the world.

O’Sullivan was defending the £500,000 first prize he won in 2022. Having lost in the last eight to Bingham this year, he collected ‘only’ £50,000, therefore a huge chunk of money came off his rolling two-year total.

Mark Williams goes down three to number nine after his opening round loss, while John Higgins also went south by three, but he manages to cling on to his top 16 status in 16th, preserving a 29-year unbroken spell within the sport’s top echelon. Had Gilbert defeated Wilson in the semis a few days ago, he would have dropped out.

Neil Robertson has endured a difficult few years on the circuit and the former world champion and world number one drops a further four places to world number 28 having failed to qualify for the Crucible for the first time since 2004.

Elsewhere inside the top 64, Anthony McGill (down seven places to 32) and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (down ten places to 43) suffered losses after going out early in qualifying.

In a separate article later this week we’ll be looking at the players who were relegated from the professional circuit.

For the full rankings, please visit the World Snooker Tour website here.