Don't Go Slow in Wicklow 2026

Inside the Parkview Hotel, the competition tables were occupied non-stop across two days of intense solving. With eighty competitors gathering in Wicklow, Ireland from April 11 to April 12, 2026, the venue buzzed with the rhythm of dropping hands, slamming timers, and turning plastic. The schedule was relentless across seventeen rounds, creating a high-pressure environment where reaching the final stage of any bracket required extraordinary consistency across multiple attempts.

The sheer depth of the roster made advancement through the rounds an arduous challenge across all nine events. The classic 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube brought seventy-two solvers into the opening round, demanding sharp execution just to survive the initial cut. When the dust settled in the three-round main event, Cillian Hainbach secured victory with a blistering 6.88 winning average and a best single of 6.08, highlighting the top-end standard of the weekend 3x3 results.

Stephanie Rose Martin pushed Hainbach all the way in the 3x3x3 Cube decider, taking the second step on the podium with a 7.27 average, while Prabhav Rajaram Nayak captured third with an 8.06 mark. That trio battled across several finals, turning the sharp end of the leaderboard into a masterclass in speedcubing under tournament pressure. Every seat in the final round had to be earned against a dense field that left very little margin for errors.

Beyond the main event, Hainbach expanded his trophy tally by dominating the heavier puzzles. In the 4x4x4 Cube, where forty-seven competitors lined up, Hainbach clinched first place with a 25.86 average and a single of 22.58, besting Martin's 31.02 and Nayak's 32.85. He followed that up on the 5x5x5 Cube by posting a winning mark of 50.06 over thirty-eight competitors, producing a single solve of 44.89 to seal a remarkable multi-puzzle haul.

Martin countered with supreme performances in the specialty disciplines, claiming gold in both 3x3x3 One-Handed and Megaminx. In the one-handed event, Martin topped a field of forty-one entrants with a 12.93 average, ahead of Nayak's 15.39 and Deasúin Kenny's 15.66. Martin then mastered the twelve-sided Megaminx, recording a winning average of 27.68 and a single of 26.07, finishing ahead of Nayak on 31.37 and Conor Ryan McMorrow on 43.12.

Away from the podium battles, Don't Go Slow in Wicklow 2026 provided a proving ground for competitors pushing their limits across broad schedules. Daragh Cummins tackled eight separate events, logging a 13th-place finish in the 2x2x2 Cube while delivering a massive Megaminx personal best of 1:27.48, which was 29.6 percent faster than their previous mark. Cummins also logged initial official marks in the 5x5x5 Cube at 2:27.56 and Clock at 10.84. Archer Scheepers entered four events, posting an initial 4x4x4 Cube time of 1:52.62 alongside a 42.1 percent personal best improvement in the 2x2x2 Cube with a 6.29 single. Finn Hsu Caswell took on nine events, earning 11th in blindfolded solving while trimming their one-handed best by 27.6 percent down to 55.96. Sebastian Holton contested seven events, registering new benchmarks of 3:28.55 in Megaminx and 3:59.10 in the 5x5x5 Cube.

The depth of progression continued through solvers taking on new events and making their initial stage appearances. Luke Ryan took on seven disciplines, setting first-time marks of 19.79 in Clock, 2:44.07 in the 5x5x5 Cube, and 53.00 in One-Handed while placing 14th in Pyraminx. Joe Losken entered eight events, completing a first Megaminx solve in 3:31.01 and a first Clock effort in 15.64. Oisin Gabriel Dillon entered six events, dropping their Clock personal best by 47.1 percent down to 30.37 and reaching 9th in the 2x2x2 Cube. Meanwhile, Daniel O'Reilly tackled their first WCA competition, taking on three events and finishing 41st in the 2x2x2 Cube with a 6.09 single alongside a 22.02 single in the 3x3x3 Cube.

The side events delivered equally competitive moments as the weekend progressed. In Clock, Jack Corr took top honors with a 4.26 winning average, finishing ahead of Hainbach on 4.78 and Nayak on 4.87. Pyraminx produced the closest battle of the meet across three rounds, where Oisín Olwill prevailed with a 2.90 average, edging out Alex Hamilton on 2.93 and Tiernan McCorry on 2.97. In the short-form 2x2x2 Cube, Lucas Patrick Dowling secured first place with a 2.30 average, holding off Hainbach's 2.35 and Martin's 2.62.

In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, which demanded flawless memorisation and precision, Ben Timmons took gold with a 57.78 average and a best single of 38.69, followed by Adam Bermingham at 59.02 and Finn Molloy at 1:06.14. Every single podium step across all nine events went to competitors representing Ireland, rounding out twenty-seven podium awards in total. As the speed cubing action concluded at Don't Go Slow in Wicklow 2026, the weekend showed that competing in an eighty-person cubing competition in 2026 requires speed, composure, and endurance.