Speedcubing:
Speedcubing, also known as speedsolving or cubing, is an exciting sport where competitors aim to solve Rubik's cubes of different kinds as fast as possible. At the time of going live, the record for 3x3 is 3.47 seconds. This record is held by Chinese speedcubing enthusiast Yusheng Du at the Wuhu open 2018.
International speedcubing is governed by the World Cube Association (also known as the WCA). Though there are also national bodies, eg: Speedcubing New Zealand. The highest event in competitive speedcubing is, of course, the WCA World Championships. (Though most people call it worlds). Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 Coronavirus, the 2021 WCA World Championship, due to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands was cancelled. However, the WCA 2019, held in Australia, went ahead. In a shock upset, Philipp Weyer came out on top in the 3x3 event. Filipino speedcuber Sean Patrick Villanueva finished second, (at the ripe old age of eleven!) Philipp's brother Sebastian Weyer finished third.
Red Bull also sponsors the Red Bull Rubik's World Cup (duh.) The last Red Bull World Cup was held in 2021 and American speedcuber Max Park bet his rival (and great friend) Feliks Zemdegs in the 3x3 final.
Yusheng Du after his record-breaking 3.47 3x3 solve at the Wuhu open 2018.
Image credit: https://www.rubiks.com/en-us/
Speedcubing methods:
Most 3x3 speedcubers use one of these three speedcubing methods:
1) CFOP. CFOP is short for cross, F2L (first two layers), OLL (orient last layer), and PLL (Permute last layer). CFOP is the most popular 3x3 method by far. CFOP is also the easiest speedcubing method to learn.
2) Roux. Roux is uncommon and more difficult than CFOP. Roux involves building blocks until the cube is solved. Sean Patrick Villanueva uses the Roux method. Join the Roux-vultion!
3) ZZ is even more uncommon than Roux. It is extremely hard to learn, and that may be why so few people use it.
The speedcubers:
There are many speedcubers from across the world of the same high standard, so for the publishers, it was an absolute nightmare to choose just 8 speedcubers to put on this list.
*Please note that these candidates are not selected by their WCA ranking. They have been individually been assessed by us and we put them on this list.*
1) Feliks Zemdegs. Probably the greatest speedcuber of all time, (though Max Park could probably give him a run for his money.) Fun fact: Feliks is also really good at 5x5. (At the 2019 World Championships, he got one top 3 finish - and that was in 5x5.)
2) Max Park. If he ain't first then he's second! Fun fact: Max Park and Feliks Zemdegs are best friends. They star together in the Netflix documentary The Speedcubers.
3) Now this was a hard one. In the end, we decided that Philipp Weyer was better than Sean Patrick Villanueva, but don't worry! Sean Fills the next spot.
4) Sean Patrick Villanueva. Easily the best Roux speedcuber. He's got near record-breaking averages at the age of 13!
5) Juliette Sébastien. Placed inside the top 10 at the WCA World Championships in Melbourne, 2019. Her specialty is solving with one hand, but she's put up great both-hand times in recent years.
6) Sebastian Weyer. A 4x4 specialist, (he holds the single world record), but still a great at 3x3.
7) Seung Hyuk Nahm. This super South Korean was Asain champion waaay back in 2017. Unfortunately, he fell prey to timer resets on that year's world championships.
8) Leo Borromeo. This 14-year-old is a rising star. He's gotten a 5.21 solve in a WCA competition and has his own YouTube channel. He's one to watch out for in the next few years!
Speedcubing algorithms
In this guide, we will teach you basic CFOP. For people wanting to learn advanced CFOP, we recommend using Feliks Zemdegs's website, Cubeskills. A link to Cubeskills's advanced CFOP is available here: