Young English snooker star completes feat rarer than a 147 break at world championship qualifying

The 20-year-old from the south coast of England compiled a total clearance of 146 during his second qualifying round match against Lyu Haotian on Friday at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Sykes doesn’t currently have a professional tour card, although he will be on snooker’s top flight full-time from next season having recently earned promotion by reaching the final of the European Amateur Championship that was held in Spain.

As an invited amateur, Sykes began this year’s world championship gauntlet at the very start, where he defeated former Shoot Out runner-up Liam Graham, 10-4, earlier this week.

His next assignment was against world number 54 Lyu from China, a former ranking event finalist.

Lyu deposited the opening two frames of the contest before Sykes got on the scoreboard in style with a 116.

Breaks of 74 and 66 either side of the mid-session interval helped him take the lead, before he made it four frames in-a-row.

The Chinese star stopped his opponent's sequence, as he claimed back-to-back frames (68 break, frame seven) to restore parity at 4-4, and set up an important final frame of the morning session.

And that's where Sykes sank 15 reds, 14 blacks, one pink, and all the colours for only the 40th 146 break in professional snooker history, and to take a 5-4 lead going into Friday evening’s concluding session in South Yorkshire.

A 146 break is much rarer that a maximum 147 in the professional game. In comparison, there have been 240 top tier maximums - of which a record-shattering 23 have been crafted during this extraordinary season.

Sykes is only the 28th player to have achieved the feat as he joins a small list that includes Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, and Joe Davis. Mark Allen has the most 146s to his name on that list with five.

The quirky contribution puts Sykes top of the highest break pile for this year’s Championship as he eclipses the previous benchmark of 143 made by teenager Wang Xinbo the day before.

There is a £15,000 highest break bonus prize for the 2026 World Snooker Championship which is available to all entrants as it counts for both the qualifying, and main draw, televised rounds.

If someone matches the break, the prize would be shared equally.

Should someone in this year’s competition fashion snooker perfection with a 147, there is an additional bonus on top of the highest break purse. If the maximum is made at the qualifiers its worth an extra £10,000, if it’s done at the Crucible it carries a £40,000 tag. Again, if more than one 147 is made at either stage, the money will be chopped.

If a player makes two 147s, they could unlock a £147,000 bonus.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Championship qualifying rounds, visit here.