A TEENAGER won gold at a global Rubik’s Cube competition after reordering the multi-coloured puzzle in a staggeringly fast time.
Chris Mills from Sussex solved his cub in just 17.6 seconds earning him a share of the £22,800 prize money.
The 18-year-old was competing at the Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup on Saturday, with the event marking 40 years since the popular puzzle was first released.
However, despite the international nature of the tournament, Chris did not have to leave his house to compete.
Due to Covid restrictions, the tournament took place entirely online for the first time in its history.
The event gives competitors a solved cube and asks them to match the pattern on a randomly scrambled one.
And Chris outperformed his opponent, Ricky Meiler, in the final round to take the top spot.
The part-time engineering student said: “That was one of my best solves ever, both in competition and at home.”
The £22,800 prize pot was shared around the winners of four different categories of competition.
Max Park, an 18-year-old from the US, was named Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup speedcubing champion, after winning the mixed final by solving a scrambled cube in just 5.9 seconds.
He defeated Australian Feliks Zemdegs, 24, a fellow star of the Netflix documentary The Speed Cubers.
“My motto is ‘don’t think just solve’,” said Mr Park.
“It was amazing that at a time of social distancing the speedcubing community could gather together and compete in such an exciting Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup.
“It was fascinating too, to see that the speeds could be accurately measured to one-thousandth of a second.”
German Philipp Weyer took home the crown in the fastest hand event, which sees competitors using just one hand to solve a cube, registering times of between 11 and 13 seconds in the final.
The fastest solve in that event came in the semi-finals, when Russia’s Andrey Che recorded 8.5 seconds.
France’s Juliette Sebastien won the speedcubing female event, with a time of 6.9 seconds, and also came second in the mixed fastest hand event.
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