Cubing Acton El Salvador 2024

3 minutes and 20.38 seconds was the standard set by José Enrique Jiménez to secure victory on the 7x7x7 Cube, showing the discipline required when there is no safety net. In mean-of-3 formats, every single turn carries decisive weight because competitors do not receive the luxury of discarding their slowest solve. One lockup or miscalculated alignment can instantly derail an entire average, making clean, relentless consistency the only path to the top of the podium. Across three intense solves, Jiménez kept errors completely out of the equation to take the premier big-cube title of the weekend.

The single-day WCA competition took place on June 30, 2024, at Acton Academy El Salvador in Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador. A total of 35 competitors gathered to tackle 6 distinct events across 7 rounds of official speedcubing action. The schedule offered a dynamic balance of disciplines, spanning from the tiny 2x2x2 Cube all the way to massive multi-layered puzzles and specialized single-handed solving. Speed cubing enthusiasts throughout the region turned out to test their skills and push their personal boundaries in official World Cube Association play.

Jimenez turned the tournament into a showcase of big-cube supremacy. Beyond his mean-of-3 triumph on the 7x7x7 Cube where he also logged the fastest single at 3:13.09, he captured the 5x5x5 Cube title with an average of 1:12.86 and a top single of 1:08.18. He completed his triple crown by capturing the 4x4x4 Cube crown, posting a winning average of 40.11 and the event single of 34.92. Oscar Nieto of Colombia took second place behind Jiménez in all three of those events, putting up averages of 41.27 in 4x4x4, 1:13.39 in 5x5x5, and 3:26.66 in 7x7x7.

The classic Rubik's Cube division brought its own high-stakes drama through two complete rounds of competition. Raihan Sadr of the United States delivered world-class execution to secure the victory, finishing with a winning 3x3x3 Cube average of 8.31 and the quickest single of the event at 6.56. The 3x3 results saw El Salvador's José Eduardo Palacios Castro secure second place with an average of 9.02, while Javier Portillo rounded out the podium in third at 11.25. Sadr demonstrated exceptional technical form across both rounds of the 31-competitor field.

Sadr doubled his gold medal tally in the 3x3x3 One-Handed event, mastering the mechanical complexity of single-handed turning to record a 16.23 average alongside a 12.48 best single across 20 competitors. Oscar Nieto earned another runner-up finish with an average of 20.99, while Javier Portillo collected another podium spot with 21.13 for third place. In the lightning-fast 2x2x2 Cube event, Elvis Isaí Rosales Hernández of El Salvador claimed the top step of the podium with a winning average of 3.45, edging out Sadr who took second at 3.51, while Francisco Javier Velásquez Portillo finished third with a mark of 4.04.

Away from the top of the podium, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones across their individual journeys. Miguel Joshua Navas Ventura took on four separate events and delivered massive personal bests, cutting his 3x3x3 One-Handed time by 34.2 percent to 25.26 and his 3x3x3 single by 26.1 percent to 12.07, while also making his first ever official attempt at the 4x4x4 Cube in 1:41.07. Armando Javier Guevara Escalante achieved a 5th place finish in 4x4x4 Cube with a first-time mark of 44.39, while improving his 2x2x2 Cube personal best by 25.1 percent to 5.05. Antonio Bóveda Pleitéz took 8th in 2x2x2 Cube after cutting his personal best by 36.3 percent to 3.72 and dropping his 3x3x3 best by 12.8 percent to 10.80.

That momentum continued throughout the roster as competitors tackled new challenges. Rodrigo Javier Mejía Merino competed in five events, taking 10th in 4x4x4 Cube, logging a first-ever 5x5x5 Cube result of 2:46.83, and lowering his 3x3x3 One-Handed best by 16.9 percent to 44.84. Ivan Arnoldo Navarrete Sermeño placed 5th in the 3x3x3 Cube, logged his first official 5x5x5 Cube attempt at 2:45.99, and improved his 2x2x2 Cube mark by 16 percent to 2.78. Meanwhile, Cesar Alberto Garcia Muñoz, Brayan Alexander Laínez Villatoro, and Luis Ricardo Perez Varela all made their debuts in official competition, with Garcia Muñoz tackling four events including a 12.95 3x3x3 single, Laínez Villatoro taking 19th in 4x4x4 Cube, and Perez Varela earning 10th in 5x5x5 Cube.

The final medal distribution reflected an outstanding collective showing for the host nation, with El Salvador accumulating 11 podium finishes across the 6 events, followed by Colombia with 4 and the United States with 3. Cubing Acton El Salvador 2024 served as a brilliant display of big-cube endurance and short-puzzle precision in Antiguo Cuscatlán. With personal records shattered across the board, competitors left the tables ready to carry their hard-earned progress forward into the next season of speedcubing challenges.