2026 World Snooker Championship breaks record with ‘bizarre’ 100-minute frame

Referee Marcel Eckardt speaks with Mark Allen during the marathon frame George Wood/Getty Images Share articleThe record for the longest frame ever played at the World Snooker Championship was broken in a surreal semi-final between Mark Allen and Wu Yize on Friday. The 14th frame was eventually won by Wu after 1 hour and 40 minutes, eclipsing the previous record of 85 minutes set by Yan Bingtao and Mark Selby in 2022. The frame included a 55-minute stretch where no ball was potted. The World Snooker Championship is held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, with semi-finals being best of 33 frames and held over three days. Wu, 22, raced into a 6-2 lead on Thursday, though Allen, 40, won five straight frames on Friday to take the lead. What followed was a strange set of proceedings where the black ball blocked the bottom-right corner pocket and both players played red balls as close as possible to the black without potting it in order to avoid a foul and seven points being awarded to their opponent. Eight reds ended up surrounding the black, leading to a stalemate (a red ball must be potted before attempting to pot a coloured ball), prompting sarcastic cheers and applause from a normally hushed crowd. Eventually, referee Marcel Eckardt stepped in and said that he would call for a re-rack (re-starting the frame) if the situation was not settled in the next three shots. Allen, who was leading 47-13 in the frame, then decided to pot the black for a foul. The frame went on for another 30 minutes, with Wu finally winning it to tie the match at 7-7. Only six of the eight frames scheduled for the day were played and it delayed the resumption of the other semi-final between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy. A 100 minute frame, the longest-ever at the Crucible ⏱️ It followed this bizarre stalemate, where no ball was potted for 55 minutes! pic.twitter.com/pZXdsfHbNi — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 1, 2026 BBC Sport commentator John Parrot described it as “the most bizarre frame I’ve ever seen here at the Crucible Theatre,” while six-time world champion and BBC pundit Steve Davis described it as an “embarrassment to snooker”. “The referees’ and the players’ association need to try to work out a way so that never happens again,” Davis added. Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry said that Eckardt should have intervened earlier. “The referee’s got to get involved here, in my opinion,” he said on BBC Two. “This is the dark side of snooker.” Both Wu and Allen are aiming to reach the world championship final for the first time in their careers. The semi-final is set to conclude on Saturday. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms