CubingUSA Southern Championship 2024

Inside the Oklahoma City Convention Center, the focus centered on lightning-quick turning and split-second stops across dozens of competition tables. The three-day gathering in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA brought together 182 competitors between August 2 and August 4, 2024, to contest 16 events spanning 44 separate rounds. From traditional twisty puzzles to specialized challenges, this major speedcubing tournament delivered high-stakes action right down to the final solves.

The fastest disciplines on the schedule produced some of the weekend's most dominant performances, setting the tone for the entire cubing competition. In the 2x2x2 Cube, Siddharth Reddy captured first place with a blistering 1.38 winning average, having posted a top single solve of 1.05 in the final round. Ryan Pilat finished in the runner-up position with a 1.85 average, while Jake Maddox secured third on the podium with a mark of 2.08.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube event drew a massive field of 180 competitors across four complete rounds of play. Matty Hiroto Inaba claimed the title with a tournament-winning average of 6.08, capped by a best single of 5.58 during the event. Pilat added another second-place finish to his tally with a 6.59 average, closely followed by Dylan Miller in third at 6.77, establishing world-class 3x3 results at CubingUSA Southern Championship 2024.

Inaba's victory on the standard Rubik's Cube was merely one chapter in a sweeping run through the larger NxN puzzles. Across the multi-layered cubes, Inaba won 4x4x4 Cube with an average of 24.53, 5x5x5 Cube in 43.69, 6x6x6 Cube in 1:20.87, and 7x7x7 Cube in 2:20.91. In 5x5x5 Cube, Ray Bai took second place at 51.14 while Sameer Aggarwal followed in 53.72. The 7x7x7 Cube podium saw Pilat earn second in 2:27.19 and Lydia Workman take third in 2:30.48, while Zachary Walden joined Inaba and Pilat on the 6x6x6 podium in third with 1:45.54.

Beyond the main podium races, several participants made substantial personal strides across extensive event programs. Fernando Sánchez Lacayo took on nine events and achieved huge personal bests, cutting his Square-1 time by 79.5 percent down to 1:09.84 and his 4x4x4 Cube mark by 48.6 percent to 1:05.23, while also recording his first ever attempt at Clock in 19.92. Rory Barba trimmed his Pyraminx personal best by 62.4 percent to 12.56, while logging his first official solves in 2x2x2 Cube at 26.46 and 3x3x3 Cube at 1:30.52. Sam Moses entered 12 events, delivering his first official attempts in 5x5x5 Cube at 2:38.23, Clock at 30.74, and Square-1 at 42.37. Jason Larson also balanced 12 events, posting first-time marks of 1:18.85 in 5x5x5 Cube, 2:43.81 in 6x6x6 Cube, and 16.86 in Clock.

First attempts continued to define the weekend for versatile solvers testing new categories. Weston Smoliak entered nine disciplines, recording his first official finishes in 7x7x7 Cube with 7:27.65, Clock with 36.15, and Pyraminx with 11.90. Landon Albritton tackled seven events, clocking initial marks of 1:28.31 in 4x4x4 Cube, 9.18 in 2x2x2 Cube, and 3:21.40 in 5x5x5 Cube. Charles Coker took on 10 events, notching first official times in Clock at 25.49, Square-1 at 1:07.19, and 5x5x5 Cube at 3:31.58. Jayden Jhang registered 12 events, logging first-ever solves of 3:55.14 in 6x6x6 Cube, 6:18.44 in 7x7x7 Cube, and 13.20 in Clock.

One-handed and blindfolded disciplines showcased extraordinary versatility during this WCA competition. Ryan Pilat captured the 3x3x3 One-Handed title with a winning average of 11.47, besting a field of 111 entrants. In blindfolded solving, where competitors inspect the cube and execute turns entirely from memory without sight, Andrew Tao swept three separate events. Tao won 3x3x3 Blindfolded with a single of 23.92, 5x5x5 Blindfolded with 6:32.40, and 3x3x3 Multi-Blind by completing 29 out of 36 cubes within 59:18. Pilat claimed the 4x4x4 Blindfolded victory in 3:17.83, ahead of Tao at 3:33.71 and Brayden Wroten at 5:00.52.

The remaining puzzle categories rounded out an intense weekend of competitive speed cubing across the convention hall floor. Andres Rodriguez took the Pyraminx title with an average of 2.60, Brayden Wroten claimed Skewb in 1.90, Ray Bai captured Megaminx in 36.38, and Dylan Baumbach topped Square-1 with a winning average of 5.17. Siddharth Reddy added a second gold medal to his weekend tally by winning Clock in 4.05 seconds.

With 50 total podium placements earned by competitors from the United States, CubingUSA Southern Championship 2024 concluded having delivered top-tier results across all 16 events. As the venue cleared in Oklahoma City, the weekend stood as a showcase of rapid sprint solving, big-cube dominance, and memorable personal milestones.