5BLD in a Madison Fall 2024

The lakeside halls of the Monona Terrace set a quiet, concentrated tone as competitors took their stations for a weekend dedicated to the most rigorous formats in the sport. Solving without sight demands complete silence and flawless mental mapping, turning each attempt into a deliberate exercise in precision. Across two focused days of action on November 2 and November 3, sixteen dedicated solvers gathered to test their skills against strict time cutoffs, high-stakes single attempts, and multi-round formats.

The distinctive schedule at 5BLD in a Madison Fall 2024 put round structures and cutoffs squarely in focus across seven specialized events. With multi-round setups for blindfolded disciplines and big cubes alongside single-round endurance trials, success hinged on balancing safe initial solves against the pressure of advancing. Across twelve total rounds, competitors faced everything from the strict 60-minute time cap of Multi-Blind to the analytical pacing of Fewest Moves, demanding diverse strategic approaches across the board.

Stanley Chapel delivered a masterclass in blindfolded efficiency, sweeping all four sightless categories in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Chapel opened his winning account in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, taking first place with an average of 17.40 seconds while posting a best single of 16.02 seconds in the finals. Noah Swor pushed hard in the discipline, registering an impressive single of 15.65 seconds during the rounds and finishing second overall with a 16.35 final mark, just ahead of Brayden Thompson who took third at 19.26.

Chapel extended his dominance to the larger blindfolded puzzles, where strict cut limits often leave little margin for recovery. In the 4x4x4 Blindfolded event, Chapel claimed victory with a winning single of 59.49 seconds, leading a podium that featured Zeke Mackay in second with 4:34.07 and Brayden Thompson in third with 3:57.21. In 5x5x5 Blindfolded, Chapel secured top honors with a single of 2:35.36, while Thompson secured second place in 17:11.00 and Aaron Soley took third in 21:47.00.

The mental marathon concluded with 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, where Chapel assembled a winning result of 39 out of 46 cubes solved within 58:43. Noah Swor earned the runner-up spot by successfully solving 32 of 34 cubes in 59:11, while Carter Kucala took third place with 31 out of 33 cubes in 59:31. The demanding event tested memory retention right up to the final second of the hour-long window, giving the blindfolded slate an intense conclusion.

Beyond the sightless events, standard speed cubing formats brought fierce battles to the tables. Carter Kucala captured first place in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a stellar winning average of 21.67, backed by a best single of 20 moves, finishing ahead of Chapel and Brian Johnson who both logged 24.00 averages. Zeke Mackay conquered the twelve-sided puzzle, winning Megaminx with an average of 38.18 seconds over Swor and Johnson. In 7x7x7 Cube, Swor earned the gold with a 2:37.24 average, besting Chapel and Mackay in the finals.

Away from the top steps of the podium, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones across the weekend schedule. Louis Funk tackled six events, securing seventh place in 4x4x4 Blindfolded with a personal best single of 13:36.00 that was 50.2 percent faster than his previous mark, alongside first career official attempts in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind with 2 out of 2 in 6:37 and 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a 46. Lucas Hernandez took on his first ever Megaminx attempt, posting a time of 2:37.66. Logan Maciejewski achieved a 13.3 percent improvement in Megaminx with a personal best of 1:35.08, while Jameson R. Sramek improved his 7x7x7 Cube best by 8.6 percent down to 4:29.37.

The progress continued with Luke Selle entering seven disciplines, earning fourth place in 5x5x5 Blindfolded with a 12.5 percent personal best cut to 22:21.00 and attempting Fewest Moves for the first time with a 36. Lucas Lippman-Bruno earned fourth in 7x7x7 Cube while logging personal bests of 7:08.76 in 4x4x4 Blindfolded and 1:00.40 in 3x3x3 Blindfolded. Thomas Reinke placed fourth in Multi-Blind with a career-best 29 out of 33 cubes, Konstantin Jaehne finished eleventh in Fewest Moves across two events, and Simon Kellum took seventh place in Megaminx after competing across five events.

The 2024 gathering in Wisconsin highlighted how varied formats challenge solvers beyond standard classic Rubik's Cube solving. From long-form memory marathons to split-second turns, the weekend proved that every bracket in a WCA competition brings its own tests and triumphs. As the speedcubing season moves toward future stops, the performances across all 3x3 results and specialized disciplines at 5BLD in a Madison Fall 2024 set a demanding benchmark for regional cubing competition contenders.