Mark Williams pulls all-nighter after World Snooker Championship triumph

Mark Williams pledged to go out drinking until the sun came up and delivered on that promise today as he marked his third World Championship triumph.

The 43‑year-old toasted the last of his world titles, in 2003, with half a pint of milk before bed.

This time, having beaten John Higgins 18-16, the celebrations were infinitely bigger.

During a colourful press conference in which he turned up naked as part of an earlier pledge, Williams vowed: “I’m going to party the night away. It’ll be daylight before I get to bed.”

The Welshman then kept his Twitter followers updated across the night as he celebrated in Sheffield, posting at around 4am: “Until the sun comes up, I ain’t stopping drinking.” notebook

Two hours later, he suggested he had yet to stop as he tweeted a selfie saying: “I said the sun will have to come up. Still going.”

It was a mammoth celebration following a rollercoaster final at The Crucible, where Williams had been cruising 14-7 before Higgins stormed back to level at 15-15.

Even before his celebrations, Williams’s food and drink habits in Sheffield have been a major talking point.

He celebrated his semi‑final win over Barry Hawkins with a doner kebab and chips in the early hours of the morning, and tucked into bags of Minstrels and crisps from a fan during the final win over Higgins.

Having turned up naked for the post-final press conference, Williams vowed to do cartwheels in the nude if he retained his title next year.

“It’s an unbelievable story,” said the oldest champion since Ray Reardon’s success as a 45‑year-old in 1978.

“Twelve months ago, I was thinking about chucking it in, and here I am doing an interview naked, having won the 2018 World Championship. If I won this again next year, I’d do this again — I’d cartwheel round here naked.”

Remarkably, he had not even qualified for the World Championship a year ago, watching it on television in his caravan.