Christmastime in Cambridge 2024

Thirty-two competitors assembled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on December 21, 2024, to close out the year with a high-stakes showcase of rapid mechanical solving. St. Mary Orthodox Church played host to Christmastime in Cambridge 2024, an intense one-day WCA competition spanning six distinct puzzles and fifteen total rounds of action. Across the hall, youth and rapid personal growth defined the atmosphere, with young talents dropping substantial chunks of time from their career records and challenging the veteran order in every bracket.

While traditional speedcubing often focuses on the standard Rubik's Cube, this specialized gathering pushed competitors through an array of technical formats ranging from the geometric intricacies of Megaminx to the precise dial manipulations of Clock. The speed cubing community in the region showed immense depth, fielding contenders ready to test their limits under tournament conditions just before the winter holidays. Every bracket saw sharp turnarounds and fierce qualification cutoffs across the tables.

Ethan Zhuang proved to be one of the day's dominant forces, capturing two titles across different disciplines. In Skewb, Zhuang topped the twenty-six-competitor field by logging a winning average of 2.78 seconds alongside a best single of 2.37. Elijah Rain Phelps finished in second place with a 3.65 average, while Saisabari Ramesh secured third at 3.85. Zhuang added a second victory in Clock, taking first place with a 4.46 average and an exceptional 2.88 single, finishing ahead of runner-up Levi Gibson at 5.72 and third-place Thiago Han at 5.87.

Elijah Rain Phelps put together an outstanding multidimensional campaign of his own, winning the Square-1 championship with a 7.67 winning average and a 6.36 best single across two rounds of play. Phelps held off Joshua Broderick Phillips, who claimed second place with a 9.97 average, and Gibson, who earned another podium spot in third with 10.79. In Pyraminx, Mark Gowman delivered a commanding performance to capture the title, registering a 2.67 winning average and a 2.35 single. Gabriel Gowman followed in second place at 3.50, with Phelps collecting yet another medal in third at 3.87.

The longest puzzles on the schedule delivered dramatic finishes. Joshua Broderick Phillips dominated the Megaminx division through three rounds, posting a 45.87 winning average and a 44.36 single. Ramesh finished second with a 48.71 average, while Phelps placed third with 52.56. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded arena, where solving demands complete memorization before donning a blindfold, Thiago Han earned first place with a winning single of 21.35 seconds. Vishwanath Jeyaraman of India took second with a 22.88 single, while Joey Mait claimed third at 28.33. Enthusiasts looking through the blindfolded 3x3 results found a string of sharp single finishes across the twenty-two entrants.

Beneath the top podium spots, several competitors delivered massive leaps forward in their development. Sunny You entered six events and cut an enormous 57.4 percent from their Square-1 mark with a new 43.72 personal best, dropped their Pyraminx best by 38.8 percent down to 5.83, and posted a 1:34.01 single in their first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Blindfolded to finish eighth. Joshua Costantini took on five events and secured a 3:30.02 in his first blindfolded attempt for a ninth-place result, while shaving 29 percent off his Square-1 time with an 18.46 personal best and 10.7 percent off his Megaminx mark at 1:07.87. Matthew Isabella completed his first official Skewb attempt with a 9.24 single and lowered his Pyraminx personal best by 32.9 percent to 6.17. Patrick Shepherd improved across three events, cutting his Pyraminx time by 40.5 percent to 7.68 and his Skewb best by 36.4 percent to 6.37.

Other competitors maintained that upward trajectory throughout the afternoon. Dana Imambek entered five events and trimmed 10.7 percent from her Square-1 best to reach 20.04, alongside a 16.12 Clock personal best. Benton Tolley tackled six events, achieving a ninth-place finish in Clock with a personal best of 7.43 and lowering his Pyraminx mark by 18 percent to 4.38. Taiyo Nakai contested the Megaminx and improved by 7.3 percent to record a 1:18.27 single. Jia Wu took part in her very first official tournament, stepping onto the floor for the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event. These milestones highlighted the depth of progress brewing across the regional roster.

Julian Kim, founder and developer of Speedcubing.app, competed across all six events on the schedule without reaching a podium, but walked away with five personal best marks. Kim placed fourteenth in Clock with an 11.22 average and an 8.64 personal best single, and took fourteenth in 3x3x3 Blindfolded in his first official attempt at the format. He finished fifteenth in Pyraminx with a 7.72 average and a 3.36 single personal best, seventeenth in Megaminx with a 1:42.10 average and a 1:35.52 single personal best, seventeenth in Skewb at 7.72, and twentieth in Square-1 with a 35.56 average and a 27.62 personal best single.

The single-day meet at Christmastime in Cambridge 2024 captured the vibrant progression of modern cubing competition, where competitors of all experience levels pushed their limits against the clock. From Ethan Zhuang and Elijah Rain Phelps demonstrating elite speed to the dozens of breakthrough personal records logged across every round, the gathering in Massachusetts closed out the competitive calendar on a high note, setting the stage for even faster times in the upcoming season.