Cubes on the Bayside Summer 2024

Ninety-one competitors gathered on June 1, 2024, at the Adria Hotel and Conference Center for a packed day of twisting puzzles. Across 11 fast-moving rounds, Cubes on the Bayside Summer 2024 brought top regional talent to Bayside, New York, USA, to test their speed on six different disciplines. While the schedule moved swiftly from classic three-layered puzzles to massive big cubes and mechanical dials, one competitor consistently placed himself at the front of nearly every single event, defining the rhythm of the entire cubing competition.

Parker Trager assembled a remarkably dominant campaign throughout the weekend, securing podium finishes across four separate disciplines and claiming a gold medal along the way. In the 2x2x2 Cube final, Trager captured the title with a tournament-winning 2.58 average after laying down a 2.16 single earlier in the proceedings. Samuel Fang took second place with a 2.67 average, while Eli Rogers rounded out the top three with 2.71, in a tight contest where small fractions of a second separated the podium.

Trager also remained in the thick of the title hunts across the larger puzzles and the main events. In the 3x3x3 Cube, Trager earned runner-up honours with an 8.15 average, finishing just behind Noah Kim. Trager then added a third-place finish in 3x3x3 One-Handed with a 13.76 average, followed by silver-medal results in both the 5x5x5 Cube and the 6x6x6 Cube. Placing on four distinct podiums in a single day demonstrated exceptional versatility and consistency across wildly different puzzle types.

Noah Kim proved equally commanding in the headline solving events, sweeping the three-layered categories. Kim took first place in the 3x3x3 Cube with a winning average of 7.66 across three rounds, delivering a sharp 6.41 single that stood as the best single mark among the 88 entrants. Kim matched that standard in 3x3x3 One-Handed, claiming victory across two rounds with a decisive 12.12 average and a fast 11.65 single, leading the field ahead of Anthony Jiang in second at 12.46 and Trager in third.

Big cube specialists found their benchmark in Chris Choi, who secured a dual triumph on the heavier hardware. Choi won the 5x5x5 Cube event with an average of 1:00.33, propelled by a 52.57 single that bested Trager at 1:03.59 and Jesse Hartnett at 1:10.14. Choi followed up with an emphatic win in the 6x6x6 Cube single-round contest, logging a 1:47.66 average and a best single of 1:41.88, once again clear of Trager at 2:04.21 and Henry Syn at 2:07.18.

Away from the main title contests, several competitors delivered massive personal breakthroughs across multiple events. Nicholas Trofimov trimmed 36.7 percent from his prior mark in the 3x3x3 Cube to finish in 15.53, while also completing his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 One-Handed in 32.93 and a first Clock try of 15.58. Jacob Ding improved his Rubik's Cube time by 29.9 percent with a new 17.29 personal best, alongside a first 2x2x2 Cube mark of 3.99. Chase Allen lowered his Clock best by 28.3 percent down to 16.84 and posted a first 3x3x3 One-Handed solve of 1:15.52. Luke Huxta similarly saw major gains, knocking 27.3 percent off his 3x3 results to record 19.51 while making his first Clock attempt in 17.18.

The depth of progress across the roster was evident as speed cubing enthusiasts embraced brand-new events and major stage milestones. Kanishq Bhandari delivered a 25 percent improvement in 3x3x3 One-Handed with a personal best of 29.13, in addition to clocking a first 5x5x5 Cube mark of 2:28.71. Luc-André Lennox Forestal took on five events, improving his 2x2x2 Cube standard by 13.5 percent to 3.14 and logging a first 5x5x5 Cube effort of 2:05.26 to place 11th on 2x2x2 Cube. Tamar Bober-Tsafrir tackled all six events, logging first attempts in the 6x6x6 Cube at 4:10.84 and the 5x5x5 Cube at 2:14.28, while Nicolas Ramirez completed his first WCA competition with four events, recording a 26.36 on 2x2x2 Cube and 37.29 on 3x3x3 Cube.

The dial-turning action in the Clock event was captured by Benjamin Wiginton, who won the single-round contest with a swift 4.35 average, backed by the day's best single of 3.50. Ryan Hughes took the second step on the podium with a 5.68 average, followed by Samuel Fang in third place at 7.19. The United States claimed all 18 podium positions available across the full programme of events.

By the time the final awards were distributed, Cubes on the Bayside Summer 2024 had delivered an exciting showcase of speedcubing across every puzzle size. With Parker Trager securing four podium appearances and Noah Kim sweeping the single-handed and two-handed three-layered events, the tournament established high benchmarks as competitors look ahead to the next stage of the 2024 season.