Record-breaking start to the 2025 World Snooker Championship continues, with century breaks and 147s

Although the ‘main event’ is the 17-day extravaganza at the iconic Crucible Theatre - home to the annual blue riband competition since 1977 - the 2025 World Snooker Championship is actually a 27-day spectacle when you include the 10-day qualifying rounds held at the English of Institute of Sport.

Those qualifiers - featuring all this year’s entrants who weren’t ranked inside the world’s top 16 - are almost like an event of their own, and they once again produced several big stories.

It began with two-time semi-finalist Marco Fu compiling only the second ‘16-red’ total clearance in World Championship history.

One of Asia’s greatest-ever players, Fu was playing Ben Mertens in the second qualifying round at the EIOS, and at the start of frame four he received a freeball after his opponent fouled.

With the cueball in the baulk area and the reds obscured further down the table, Hong Kong cueist Fu potted the brown as his ‘extra’ red before potting brown again, this time as a regular ‘colour’.

He then went on to pot all the 15 reds with colours, and cleared the colours in order to compile a break of 139.

Only the seventh time in professional snooker history that a 16-red total clearance had been compiled in competition, it was the first time the feat had been achieved in World Championship qualifying, although Steve James made one during the main draw stages at the Crucible in 1990 with a 135 in his 10-5 first round win against Alex Higgins (this was the first on the aforementioned list).

A few days later at the qualifiers, young Welshman Jackson Page created history by becoming the first player ever to construct more than one maximum 147 break in a professional match.

In his third qualifying round tie with Allan Taylor, Page first made personal history as he struck perfection in frame eight - his maiden 147 in professional competition.

Returning the next afternoon for their concluding session, though, Page astonishingly doubled up by potting all the reds, with blacks, and the colours once again - this time in the 12th and final frame - to do something that had never been done before.

The 23-year-old was richly rewarded for the feat, collecting a special £147,000 bonus, and another £10,000 on top of that.

Mark Allen made the 15th maximum 147 break in Crucible history during his round two match with Chris Wakelin. Page and Allen will share the £15,000 tournament highest break bonus (Page gets two thirds, Allen one third). Allen is also set to pocket an additional £40,000 for making a 147 on snooker’s grandest stage.

However, this would change if another 147 is made over the coming days.

Page and Allen’s contributions have pushed the seasonal tally of 147s to 15 - beating the previous high number for a single professional season of 13.

Record number of Chinese players at the Crucible, record number of first round century breaks

Following the completion of the qualifiers, the 32-player main draw for the televised stages at the Crucible was set, and nearly a third of that field were from China.

Ten Chinese players made it through to the final rounds, a new record-high, smashing the previous record of six.

Four were top 16 seeds - previously two was the highest number - while six qualifiers made it through - eclipsing the previous high of five.

Six players from China are through to the last 16 - this doubles the previous best of three from 2017.

Heavy scoring has been a running theme across the opening week of the Championship at the Crucible. A total of 55 century breaks were made during the opening round - this is a new record, smashing the previous benchmark of 44.

In comparison, the conditions at the Crucible last year appeared to be a lot tougher - only 25 centuries were made in round one, and 63 were totted up throughout the whole 17 days.

The record amount of century breaks for a Crucible campaign is 109 from 2022. We are on course to pass that and set a new record this year. Only three times have 100 or more tons been made in a Crucible year; 2019 (100 centuries) and 2021 (108 centuries).

A record amount of centuries were compiled at this year’s qualifying rounds - 143 - passing the previous high of 135 from 2023.

During his 10-7 defeat to Ding Junhui in round one, world number 73 and Crucible debutant Zak Surety made history as he constructed four century breaks (these came within the space of five frames). No player had made more than three tons in their debut match at the Crucible.

World number one Judd Trump produced five century breaks in his 10-4 first round victory over Zhou Yuelong. This equalled the most number of tons made by one player in a round one match at the Crucible. Trump joined Ronnie O’Sullivan, Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen in achieving that brilliant feat.

How many more records will be set over the coming days in Yorkshire?

Please visit our 2025 World Snooker Championship tournament information centre here for details on the draw, results, format and order of play.