Big N Blind Berwick 2024

Twenty-four competitors gathered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia across October 12 and 13 for a weekend defined by unforgiving formats. Across 11 rounds and seven events, the tournament placed its central emphasis on big cubes and blindfolded disciplines, where the mean-of-3 format leaves zero room for error. In these events, a single mistake does not just harm a standing; it eliminates an entire average. The atmosphere inside the Berwick Senior Citizen's Centre reflected the razor-thin margins required to secure podium finishes when every single solve must count.

The 6x6x6 Cube final served as a classic example of this intense pressure, where three completed attempts are required to register a mean. Firstian Fushada of Indonesia delivered an unblemished series of solves to capture the title with a winning average of 1:26.85, backed by a best single of 1:24.12. David Epstein took second place with an average of 1:34.35, while Matthew Sieredzinski secured third on 2:02.14. In a discipline where lockups or misaligned layers can instantly derail a run, surviving all three solves at speed made all the difference.

The 7x7x7 Cube presented an even longer test of endurance and consistency across its two rounds of speedcubing. Firstian Fushada once again proved steady across every turn, taking first place with a mean of 2:10.88 and producing the round's best single at 1:58.35. David Epstein claimed the second spot on the podium with a 2:29.35 average, while Israel's Hallel Ben-Meir took third place with a 3:18.56 result. Handling the heaviest hardware without a single counting failure separated the top tier from the rest of the field.

In 5x5x5 Blindfolded, the brutality of the mean-of-3 format was fully on display. Out of seven entrants tackling the massive memory challenge, five ended the round with a DNF result. Firstian Fushada navigated the complex memorisation and execution phases cleanly to claim victory with an average of 12:09.00 and a best single of 10:52.00. Swami Srinivasan earned the second podium position with a 17:35.00 effort, while Michael Tripodi, Aaron Spiller, Lennon Hughes, Myles Jarman, and Chenhao Sun all shared third position on the scoresheet.

Beyond the title fights, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones away from the podium spotlight. Hamish Bentley led the charge of major time drops, taking on five events and chopping 25.3 percent off his previous benchmark in 6x6x6 Cube to log a new personal best of 3:20.01. Henry Tran made substantial headway across three events, cutting his 6x6x6 Cube best down to 3:26.67 for a 22.8 percent improvement while also notching a 7x7x7 Cube mark of 5:56.51. Nam Nguyen delivered a strong fifth-place finish in 7x7x7 Cube with a personal best of 3:14.28 alongside a 2:10.30 personal best in 6x6x6 Cube, improving those event marks by 9.1 percent and 19 percent respectively.

The personal breakthroughs continued across the roster throughout the cubing competition. Tom Noble entered five events and trimmed 18.9 percent from his 3x3x3 Fewest Moves record, setting a new personal best of 30 moves on the way to an eighth-place finish. Alex Butera took on six events and improved his Fewest Moves mark by 16.2 percent with a 31-move single. Jordan Lazaro contested four events and shaved 3.8 percent off his Fewest Moves best with a solve of 51, placing 12th. Ting Sheng Bao Yang tackled six events and logged a 1:58.94 in 6x6x6 Cube, while Jacob Joshi competed in four events, delivering personal bests of 2:39.08 in 6x6x6 Cube and 3:54.30 in 7x7x7 Cube.

The standard three-layered Rubik's Cube brought alternative challenges during the weekend. In 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, Firstian Fushada completed a stellar campaign by winning with an average of 23.33 and a single of 22, followed by Lennon Hughes in second on 29.67 and Patrick Kleverlaan in third on 30.67. Meanwhile, the unblindfolded standard format yielded to sightless mastery in 3x3x3 Blindfolded, where Michael Tripodi took first place with a single of 20.90, edging out Firstian Fushada at 35.04 and Swami Srinivasan at 36.97, even as full averages proved elusive amid the fierce pace.

Michael Tripodi dominated the remaining blind events during Big N Blind Berwick 2024. In 4x4x4 Blindfolded, Tripodi secured gold with a winning single of 3:04.17, leading Swami Srinivasan at 5:19.76 and Harry Forbes at 14:11.00. Tripodi also captured top honours in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind by successfully solving 34 out of 45 cubes in an exact hour of 1:00:00. Swami Srinivasan finished second with 22 out of 25 cubes in 55:49, and Chenhao Sun earned third with 14 out of 15 in 48:16.

Across two days of intense speed cubing, the Australian contingent captured 17 podium places, alongside five for Indonesia, two for China, and one for Israel. As the final 3x3 results and big cube tallies were entered into the official books, the 2024 WCA competition demonstrated how the smallest slip can alter a leaderboard when the mean-of-3 rule governs the table.