Altavista Open 2024

A total of 40 competitors gathered in Montevideo, Uruguay, across February 3 and 4 for Altavista Open 2024, an action-packed weekend featuring 9 events and 12 rounds of high-velocity puzzle solving. Held at the Grupo Altavista venue, the cubing competition delivered intense matchups right from the start. Speed was the defining story across the tables as the field tackled everything from short-order sprints to complex rotational puzzles. The focus was firmly on the rapid formats, where fractions of a second separated the podium contenders.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube event drew the largest field of the weekend with 36 entrants competing across two demanding rounds. Octavio Arocena took the title on the classic Rubik's Cube, recording a winning average of 9.83 seconds and posting a weekend-best single of 8.40 seconds. Manuel Malvárez secured the silver medal with a solid 10.03-second average, while Irene Pinto rounded out the podium positions with a 10.30 average. These official 3x3 results capped a weekend of precise turning and swift inspection across the main bracket.

In the explosive 2x2x2 Cube contest, Santiago Cabral set an unmatched benchmark to claim the gold medal among 25 competitors. Cabral sealed first place with a winning average of 3.30 seconds alongside the fastest single of the discipline at 2.59 seconds. Isaac Morales claimed second place with a 3.90 average and a 3.34 single, while Sebastiano Benato took third on a 4.14 average. The swift, single-round clash highlighted the fierce standard of speedcubing on display in the Uruguayan capital.

Beyond the speed events, Octavio Arocena added a second title to his weekend haul by topping the 17-competitor field in the 4x4x4 Cube. Arocena recorded a dominant 33.49-second average and posted a single of 29.53 seconds. Manuel Malvárez followed closely behind in second with a 36.89 average, and Irene Pinto earned her second podium of the weekend by taking third place with an average of 46.26 seconds. The larger puzzle demanded relentless lookahead and accuracy across every turn.

Manuel Malvárez proved to be the weekend's most prolific champion, capturing three distinct titles across diverse formats. In 3x3x3 One-Handed, Malvárez led a 21-competitor field with a 15.35-second average and a single of 10.86, finishing ahead of Rodrigo Benitez and Mateo Blois Escobar. Malvárez also won Skewb with an average of 5.12 seconds, edging out Mateo de León and Agustín Márquez, and captured the Square-1 event with a mark of 20.62 seconds over Sebastiano Benato and Santiago Cabral.

Further across the schedule at Altavista Open 2024, Santiago Cabral captured a second gold medal by navigating two rounds of Clock with a winning average of 5.46 seconds. Sebastiano Benato triumphed in the Pyraminx with a sharp 2.60 average, also securing the 3x3x3 Blindfolded victory with a best single of 2:12.59. Blindfolded solving requires intense memorisation before executing turns without sight, where Benato placed ahead of Venezuela's Felipe Santamaría Ruiz and Uruguay's Sofía Rojo on the final podium.

Behind the medal ceremonies, numerous personal milestones emerged across the weekend floor. Joaquin Pereira logged a massive personal best in Pyraminx with an 8.07 single, shaving 63.5 percent off his previous record, while also taking on his first ever attempt in the 2x2x2 Cube with a time of 9.49 seconds. Lihuén Constantino cut 42.2 percent from his 4x4x4 Cube mark down to 1:12.35 and entered Pyraminx for the first time with a 14.53 single. Luca Fontana posted an impressive fourth-place finish in Square-1 behind a 27.64 personal best that was 40.4 percent faster than before, while also lowering his Clock single to 8.58 seconds. Bruno Muñoz dropped his Pyraminx best by 39.7 percent to 9.44 seconds and registered his first attempt at Skewb in 31.11 seconds.

The depth of progress continued with Juan Pablo Chans, who improved his 3x3x3 Cube best by 21.4 percent to 30.26 seconds while tackling his first attempts in Clock and 3x3x3 One-Handed. German Echeverría took on four events, earning 12th in Square-1 with a debut mark of 2:01.62 alongside first-time outings in Skewb and one-handed solving. Augusto Molinari made his official debut at this WCA competition, taking 11th in Pyraminx with an opening mark of 10.46 seconds and contesting four events in total. Fausto Alonso also made his official debut at the tables, putting up a 6.93 single in Pyraminx to finish 15th.

Altavista Open 2024 concluded having demonstrated the remarkable dedication and precision defining the 2024 speed cubing calendar in South America. From the lightning-quick sprints of the two-layer cube to the tactical depth of multi-layered puzzles, the event showcased tremendous focus across all 12 rounds. With 26 podium spots going to Uruguayan entrants alongside a podium finish for Venezuela, the competitors left Montevideo having set a high bar for the season ahead.