Impressive Ali Carter wins the 2024 Helsinki International Snooker Cup

Despite not being an official professional tournament, the eight-player weekend extravaganza was the biggest snooker event ever held in the Nordic region. Played at the Kulttuuritalo Helsinki Hall of Culture, the competition carried a prize fund of 150,000 Euros.

Five-time ranking event winner Carter was an eleventh hour replacement in the draw for Luca Brecel who withdrew on Friday. Having left his home at 3.45am on the same day of his match to catch a flight from Heathrow, a few hours later he hit breaks of 87, 65, 64 and 55 in a 4-1 opening round victory against Jimmy White.

In his semi-final on Sunday, Carter defeated recent world championship runner-up Jak Jones 5-3, registering runs of 62, 54 and 107 in the process. Despite eventually losing, Jones fashioned sizeable contributions of 51, 70, 138 and 110.

On the other side of the draw, Crucible king Wilson opened up the tournament on Saturday as he crafted breaks of 131, 118 and 85 in a narrow 4-3 win over Ryan Day.

In the final four, the world number three totted up 61, 53 and 51 in a 5-2 victory against Rob Milkins, who had a 118 in the opening frame.

However, Carter produced a clinic in the title match, going ahead early on and never relinquishing the lead, compiling breaks of 85, 114, 114, 96, 67 and 57 in a 6-3 triumph; finishing with a pot success rate of over 96%. Wilson’s highest run in the tie was a 94 in frame three.

The Englishman is set to defend the title next year following recently released details of the tournament’s second edition. Carter will play John Higgins, while Mark Allen meets Wilson elsewhere in the bottom half of the draw. In the top half, Mark Williams cues with Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump encounters Zhang Anda.

Tickets for the 2025 installment go on sale this Friday at Lippu.fi

Thanks go to Jussi Tyrkkö, Jarkko Savolainen and the Finnish snooker community for their help and information.