How it unfolded
Partway through a first-round match, Ronnie O'Sullivan began a break with his opponent Mick Price having left one red on the table. He started potting almost without pause, and the crowd quickly realised he was heading for a maximum. Including the time the referee spent respotting balls, he completed the 147 break in just 5 minutes and 8 seconds, a pace of under nine seconds a shot, overwhelmingly faster than any maximum previously shown on television. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as the last black went in, and O'Sullivan set his cue down with his trademark air of indifference. He collected the tournament's maximum-break bonus for it, and the record has stood for nearly 30 years since.
Why it still matters
Those five minutes compressed O'Sullivan's talent into a single image and became the defining moment behind his nickname, the Rocket. The record for the fastest maximum still stands today, and it fixed in the public mind a completely different face of a sport otherwise thought of as slow and deliberate.