The latest rankings update comes after the conclusion of the 2024 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
Kyren Wilson emerged with a maiden Crucible crown after orchestrating an 18-14 success over Jak Jones in Sunday and Monday’s final.
The 32 year-old pockets a whopping cheque worth £500,000 for capturing his sixth career ranking title.
As the last event of the 2023/24 snooker season, there was a significant impact felt up and down the official two-year rankings list.
There were changes at the world number one spot, inside the top 16, and implications further down in the race for tour survival.
Let’s take a look at some of the key movements.
Mark Allen becomes world number one
As already reported last week, Mark Allen has become the 12th world number one in snooker since the world rankings began in the mid-1970s.
The Northern Irishman only reached the second round in Sheffield this year, but his overall consistency across the last two terms has seem him claim top spot for the first time in his career.
Allen has won five ranking titles during that spell, including last season’s UK Championship and this campaign’s Players Championship.
The Pistol was also a winner in November’s Champion of Champions, although as an invitational that didn’t count towards the rankings.
“One of my lifetime goals achieved,” Mark Allen wrote on social media platform X last week.
“Not quite the way I’d hoped to get there, but I’ll take it. Six wins, a runner-up, and countless semis in the last two seasons and this is my reward.”
“(I) need to continue the consistency to try and stay there now.”
Visit Bet442, meanwhile, to avail of the latest betting odds for upcoming tournaments during the 2024/25 snooker season on the professional main tour.
Top 16 movers
Kyren Wilson had endured a disappointing 2023/24 snooker season prior to Sheffield, a run of indifferent form that saw his position in the rankings plummet to number 12.
However, the Kettering cueist has launched himself into a career-high slot of number three in the world following his triumph at the Crucible Theatre.
Judd Trump stays in second place having missed the opportunity to return to the summit with an unexpected quarter-final reverse.
Last year’s world champion Luca Brecel is in fourth, while Ronnie O’Sullivan drops to fifth.
The Rocket had enjoyed a two-year stranglehold in first place but was unable to defend the ranking points from his success at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.
Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams, and Ali Carter complete the top ten.
Consolation for Jak Jones after his defeat in the world final is his newly acquired membership inside the world’s top 16.
The Welshman, who was featuring in his first ranking event final, jumps 30 places to number 14 behind Gary Wilson, Zhang Anda, and Tom Ford.
Barry Hawkins and John Higgins round off the top 16 – the latter just about extending his unbroken three-decade stretch among the world’s elite bracket.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | May 7, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Allen | £965,000 |
| 2 | Judd Trump | £911,000 |
| 3 | Kyren Wilson | £851,500 |
| 4 | Luca Brecel | £690,500 |
| 5 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £659,000 |
| 6 | Mark Selby | £648,500 |
| 7 | Shaun Murphy | £498,000 |
| 8 | Ding Junhui | £466,500 |
| 9 | Mark Williams | £457,500 |
| 10 | Ali Carter | £428,000 |
| 11 | Gary Wilson | £421,500 |
| 12 | Zhang Anda | £406,000 |
| 13 | Tom Ford | £340,500 |
| 14 | Jak Jones | £317,500 |
| 15 | Barry Hawkins | £312,500 |
| 16 | John Higgins | £303,500 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Robert Milkins | £298,500 |
| 18 | Ryan Day | £285,500 |
| 19 | Jack Lisowski | £257,000 |
| 20 | Si Jiahui | £249,000 |
| 21 | Hossein Vafaei | £244,500 |
| 22 | David Gilbert | £235,500 |
| 23 | Zhou Yuelong | £232,000 |
| 24 | Chris Wakelin | £230,500 |
| 25 | Stuart Bingham | £220,000 |
Who got relegated?
While they may not have qualified for the 2024 World Snooker Championship, important victories for several players in the preliminary competition helped to ensure their tour survival.
Mark Davis reached Judgement Day at the English Institute of Sport, results that proved to be vital in seeing the former English Open runner-up returning to the top 64.
Triumphs in the world qualifiers for Michael White, Aaron Hill, Sanderson Lam, and David Lilley were also pivotal in seeing them extending their professional statuses on the main tour.
Although they ended the season outside the crucial top 64 cut-off line, Zak Surety, Julien Leclercq, Oliver Lines, and Ben Mertens all secured fresh two-year cards.
That’s because they were the four highest earners from this season who didn’t otherwise safeguard their tour survival, thus gaining a reprieve.
Several other competitors – including He Guoqiang, Daniel Wells, Marco Fu, and Louis Heathcote – have only completed one year of their two-year cards so will be back again for the upcoming 2024/25 campaign.
The likes of Ashley Hugill, Andy Hicks, Mark Joyce, James Cahill, Liam Highfield, and Lukas Kleckers have all been relegated, meanwhile, and will likely be seen at Q School.
Irish veteran Fergal O’Brien also finished far down the rankings but will not be returning after announcing his retirement from professional snooker.
Martin Gould, meanwhile, ended the term in 83rd place but will receive a one-year extension through medical grounds.
Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty’s latest two-year invitational tour cards have concluded, and it hasn’t been announced yet whether they will be returning for the next campaign.
Elsewhere, Mink Nutcharut’s stint is additionally over, but the Thai is set to bounce back immediately through her status as the world number one in the women’s snooker rankings.
Relegated players
(final ranking in brackets)
Ashley Hugill (67)
Andy Hicks (72)
Mark Joyce (73)
James Cahill (74)
Dylan Emery (75)
Lukas Kleckers (76)
John Astley (77)
Ken Doherty (79)
Liam Highfield (82)
Oliver Brown (84)
Allan Taylor (87)
Rod Lawler (89)
Jenson Kendrick (90)
Adam Duffy (94)
Peng Yison (97)
Sean O’Sullivan (98)
Andy Lee (105)
Andres Petrov (106)
Muhammad Asif (107)
Mark King (109)
Fergal O’Brien (111)
Mohamed Ibrahim (113)
Asjad Iqbal (114)
Ryan Thomerson (116)
Anton Kazakov (117)
Mink Nutcharut (121)
Himanshu Jain (122)
Victor Sarkis (125)
Rebecca Kenna (126)
Stephen Hendry (129)
When is the next snooker event?
Most of the relegated players above will likely head to Q School in a bid to regain their spots on the World Snooker Tour.
There will be four Q School tournaments in 2024 – two in Leicester and a couple in Bangkok – with the action taking place between May 20 and June 2.
The 2024/25 snooker season is then scheduled to launch with the ranking edition of Championship League Snooker on June 10.
Featured photo credit: WST
Good luck to those relegated. Probably the last time the Ronnie O’Sullivan and “World number one” go together in a sentence. He’s had a great couple of years being the top dog in the way that only he can; but all indicators about his future are that it won’t recur again.
The Rocket is definitely not finished in terms of his World Championship credentials. He’s still winning tournaments regularly and capable of peak performances. I felt this year the extra history of winning the Triple Crown and Trump’s exit heaped added pressure on the GOAT.
I can’t quite work out how the holder of the UK and Masters can be World number 5. Yes, I know Masters non ranking etc .
I do think that ranking is a little mad given he’s won five titles in the past season. The World Championship distorts the rankings as he’s mainly there due to the points coming off for his 2022 triumph.
The UK Q School field has been released. Amongst the relegated players not entering are Lukas Kleckers, John Astley, Rod Lawler, Mohammed Ibrahim, Asjad Iqbal and Adam Duffy. Kleckers is the one that surprises me given his age and has taken a few scalps in his time on tour.
World Snooker still yet to announce if Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry will be awarded invitational tour cards.
The BBC audience peaked at healthy 3.3 million for the World final. Only 0.1 below last year’s superior and higher profile final.
63 centuries were made during the event. The lowest number since 55 in 2014. Dave Gilbert topped the list with 10 (he also made 4 in the qualifiers).
Abit perplexing how Rocket Ronnie is now ranked 5 . Also will mark Selby continue or retire . Time will tell.