Back to Banja Luka 2025

Inside Osnovna Škola Borisav Stanković, the solving stations stood ready under bright hall lights as timers, mats, and inspection covers filled the tables across two full days of play. Thirty-two competitors gathered in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 9 and 10, turning the school setting into a busy arena of puzzle solving. Across eighteen total rounds and twelve events, the venue buzzed with rapid hand motions, sliding plastic layers, and the rhythmic tap of hands stopping timers, setting a dedicated atmosphere from the opening round to the final solves of the weekend.

Tackling the larger puzzles demands exceptional physical stamina, deep focus, and rigorous lookahead across hundreds of moving pieces. Back to Banja Luka 2025 put those exact endurance qualities on display as Hungary's Gergely Novotni delivered an absolute masterclass across the big-cube roster. In the 5x5x5 Cube, Novotni secured the win with a 53.41 average and a single of 48.68, outpacing Bálint Csengő at 57.16 and Croatia's David Vujasić at 1:00.21. Novotni demonstrated the composure and tactical pacing required to keep turns crisp even as fatigue mounted over long solving sequences.

That big-cube supremacy continued into the massive 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 events, where precision counts on every turn of a heavy mechanism. Novotni swept the 6x6x6 Cube with a winning average of 1:38.15 and a best single of 1:32.28, once again keeping Csengő in second with 1:44.43 and Vujasić in third with 2:00.11. On the 7x7x7 Cube, Novotni captured gold by posting an authoritative 2:30.85 average alongside a 2:23.78 single, completing a remarkable sweep across the largest puzzles on the schedule at Back to Banja Luka 2025.

Novotni was not finished collecting titles, adding victories in the 4x4x4 Cube and Megaminx to his impressive haul. In the 4x4x4 Cube, which drew nineteen entrants across two rounds, he won with a 25.66 average and a single of 22.89, while Csengő claimed second at 29.84 and Vujasić took third at 32.42. The grueling twelve-sided Megaminx also belonged to Novotni, who averaged 38.42 with a best single of 36.57, leading Serbia's Bogdan Čumić at 40.52 and Csengő at 49.18 in a field of fifteen solvers.

Away from the top of the podiums, the weekend served as a springboard for huge individual milestones and personal breakthroughs. Martin Alan Marinković delivered a dramatic leap in the 4x4x4 Cube with a personal best of 54.97, improving on his prior mark by 33.7 percent, while also setting a 3x3x3 One-Handed best of 48.23 and logging his first attempt at Skewb with an 18.07. Ognjen Ristić chopped 39.4 percent off his Pyraminx personal best with a 9.29, took down his 3x3x3 Cube best to 28.84, and took on his first Skewb attempt at 10.86. Jovan Repić dropped 20.2 percent off his 3x3x3 One-Handed personal best with a 21.31, also securing personal records of 4.18 in the 2x2x2 Cube and 12.14 in the 3x3x3 Cube.

Marko Smiljanić tackled all twelve disciplines, earning a best finish of seventh in the 7x7x7 Cube while lowering his Skewb best to 5.84, an improvement of 28.6 percent, and his 5x5x5 Cube best to 1:36.72. Đorđe Babić improved his Pyraminx record by 22.8 percent down to 7.21 in his single event entry. In their first WCA competition, several newcomers made strong starts: Luka Šimić took on six events with a best finish of tenth in Square-1, registering initial marks of 4.16 on 2x2x2 Cube, 1:50.96 on 4x4x4 Cube, and 9.88 on Skewb. Jovan Rožić completed his first attempts across five events including Pyraminx at 12.31 and Skewb at 12.04, while Dario Gulevski placed ninth in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves during his debut, setting initial marks of 29.03 on the 3x3x3 Cube and 9.31 on the 2x2x2 Cube.

The traditional 3x3x3 Cube, the centerpiece classic Rubik's Cube event, saw thirty participants contest three intense rounds at this cubing competition. Serbia's Matej Marčok captured first place with a stellar 7.34 winning average and a single of 6.28. Csengő followed closely for the runner-up spot with a 7.52 average, and Vujasić took third with 8.51. In the official 3x3 results from Banja Luka, Marčok also earned another gold in the 3x3x3 One-Handed event, putting up a winning average of 11.67 and a single of 10.44 among seventeen entrants.

The shorter formats and specialty puzzles produced sharp contests as well. In the 2x2x2 Cube, David Vujasić captured the title with a 2.11 winning average, edging out Marčok at 2.15 and Novotni at 2.41 in the final round. Slovenia's Jakob Kitak won Pyraminx with a 2.90 average, ahead of Csengő at 3.36 and Novotni at 4.17. Meanwhile, Csengő secured multiple titles of his own during the speedcubing gathering, winning Skewb with a 3.58 average, Square-1 with an 11.67 average, and 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a single solve of 30 moves.

The medal table demonstrated exceptional international quality, led by Hungary with eighteen podium placements, Croatia with nine, Serbia with six, Slovenia with three, and host Bosnia and Herzegovina securing one. As speed cubing action came to an end in Banja Luka, competitors packed away their gear after eighteen demanding rounds of solving. Back to Banja Luka 2025 concluded as a memorable 2025 gathering, highlighting big-cube dominance and hard-fought personal milestones across every tier of the scoreboard.