Bethesda Winter Wonderland 2025

The competition floor inside Walter Johnson High School buzzed with focused energy as 115 solvers took their seats for a full slate of action on January 18, 2025. Timers clicked and mechanical puzzles turned across nine intense rounds in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. While the standard puzzle often commands the spotlight, this cubing competition gave top billing to an eclectic mix of side events, testing competitors on unconventional shapes, gear-driven dials, and large-layer challenges.

The side events delivered remarkable demonstrations of dexterity and technique throughout the day. In the Clock event, Wesley Chase captured the victory across two rounds of play, finishing with a winning average of 4.19 seconds and a sharp single of 3.12. Drew Duong took second place on the podium with a 4.87 average, while Eric Hsu secured third place at 5.24. The rapid dial adjustments and swift pin movements kept the pressure high through the concluding round.

The 12-sided Megaminx brought its own test of endurance and spatial awareness to the tables. Declan Wilhelm mastered the 54-competitor field with a decisive winning average of 39.49 seconds, highlighted by the day's best single solve of 36.06. Peter Didden earned the second step on the podium with an average of 50.95, followed closely by William Klauer in third position at 54.13, showing great command over the dodecahedron puzzle.

Shape-shifting complexity took over during the Square-1 event, where Hassan Khanani put on a clinic. Khanani swept to the top spot with a blistering 5.07 winning average and a best single mark of 4.09 seconds. Benson Kim finished as the runner-up with an 8.97 average, while Wesley Chase collected another medal by placing third with a 9.49 average across the single-round contest among 49 competitors.

Beyond the top podium spots, the official tables saw massive personal breakthroughs and bold debuts. Jackson Durbin delivered a massive leap in Square-1, dropping his personal best to 42.54 seconds, which was 75.9 percent faster than his previous mark, while also setting new personal records in 4x4x4 Cube and 5x5x5 Cube. Caleb Jacobson took on six events, securing a Square-1 personal best of 21.14 that was 55.8 percent faster, shaving 38.5 percent off his Clock mark at 5.93, and recording a first ever attempt at 5x5x5 Cube of 1:45.87. Andis Andoni logged a first Clock solve of 25.36 while improving his 4x4x4 Cube personal best to 52.06, a 47.9 percent drop.

Other solvers expanded their repertoires across multiple disciplines at this WCA competition. Ethan Geyer tackled five events, registering his first official attempts in Megaminx at 1:38.59, Clock at 12.90, and 5x5x5 Cube at 1:51.74. Daniel Jones Jr. notched a 29.9 percent improvement on his 4x4x4 Cube best with a time of 1:17.03 and tried Clock and 5x5x5 Cube for the first time. Cole Hubbard dropped his 3x3x3 Cube best by 41.3 percent to 31.09 seconds, Amy Ammann took 27.9 percent off her 5x5x5 Cube record with a 1:24.40 solve, and Gabriel Frahm improved his Square-1 best by 21.4 percent to 13.97 while debuting in Megaminx at 2:00.17.

The big cubes also brought heavy competition to Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Hassan Khanani picked up his second victory of the weekend in the 5x5x5 Cube, recording a winning average of 57.17 seconds and the round's best single of 54.16. Stone Payne finished second with a 1:02.72 average, ahead of Sanzhar Beisembayev in third at 1:06.06. In 4x4x4 Cube, Daniel Greigg claimed the title with a 33.15 average and a 30.12 single, narrowly holding off Blake Thompson at 33.47 and Drew Duong at 33.87.

The premier 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube drew 114 competitors across three full rounds of classic speed cubing. When the final round wrapped up, Sanzhar Beisembayev secured the title with an 8.22 winning average and a single of 6.74 seconds. Daniel Greigg took the silver spot on the podium at 8.45, while Hassan Khanani rounded out the top three with an 8.73 average. The final 3x3 results capped an impressive showcase of speedcubing skill across all six events at Bethesda Winter Wonderland 2025.