In the time it takes most people to read to the end of this sentence, so-called 'speedcuber' Mats Valk from the Netherlands can solve a 3x3 version of the Rubik's Cube.
Valk broke the European record, and his own, by completing the iconic puzzle in just 5.13 seconds at the weekend – shaving 42 seconds off his 5.55-second, 2014 speed.
He completed the feat at the European Rubik's Cube Championship which took place in Prague last week. However, the time was not achieved during competition.
Instead, the fastest completion of the 3x3 cube contest was made by two-time World Champion Feliks Zemdegs of Australia who averaged 7.07 seconds in the final. In fact, Zemdegs broke five records over the weekend:
3x3 cube one-handed with an average solve time of 10.70 seconds 5x5 cube: average solve time of 49.32 seconds 6x6 cube: average solve time of one minute 43.21 seconds 7x7 cube: average solve time of two minutes 25.06 seconds 7x7 cube: single solve time of two minutes 20.66 seconds
Zemdegs wasn't eligible to win the European Championship, though, because he isn't a European resident. That title went to Philipp Weyer of Germany with an average solve time of 7.88 seconds.
The UK performed particularly well in the 5x5 Cube category, in which England's Robert Yau and Scotland's Breandan Vallance finished second and third respectively.
Jakub Kipa of Poland won the feet-only competition with an average time of 33.66 seconds, while Oleg Gritsenko of Russia memorised and solved 19 out of 20 cubes blindfolded in a time of 54 minutes and 34 seconds.
There have been seven biannual European Rubik's Cube Championship competitions and a total of 525 people from 43 countries competed in this year's event.
Despite Valk's impressive time, it didn't beat the world record which is held by teenager Lucas Etter who achieved a speed of 4.904 seconds in November last year. And both 'speedcubers' pale into comparison against Rubik's Cube-solving machines.
In January, the Sub1 machine created by engineer Albert Beer from Germany deciphered the puzzle in 0.887 seconds - breaking the previous record-breaking robot's time of 0.9 by a fraction.
The official Guinness World Records title attempt took place at the Cubikon Store, in Munich and was confirmed by the organisation a month later.
Sub1 uses two webcams which capture the arrangement of all six sides of the cube. These were shuttered before the timing started for the record attempt. It then uses Tomas Rokicki's implementation of Herbert Kociemba's Two-Phase Algorithm to determine the fastest way to unravel the cube.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
