Edinburgh Winter 2025

Inside the spacious hall of Meadowbank Sports Centre, the rhythm of turning plastic carried across the tables during a full weekend of tournament play. Over two focused days from January 11 to January 12, a total of 118 competitors gathered to test their skills across 19 rounds of play. Long tables accommodated dozens of competitors simultaneously inspecting, calculating, and executing sequences across eight official events in a bustling Scottish setting.

The 3x3x3 Blindfolded event demanded total concentration, requiring competitors to commit every face of the scrambled puzzle to memory before lowering their blindfolds to solve in absolute darkness. In this high-stakes discipline where a single misplaced turn invalidates an entire attempt, Charlie Harrison secured victory with a best single time of 17.57 seconds. Ryan Eckersley took second place with a 24.99 single, while Jaye Sloan claimed third place in 27.31 seconds among 21 competitors.

Classic two-handed solving returned to center stage as the field tackled the standard Rubik's Cube. The premier 3x3 results saw Johnny Morello Kerlaff take the title at Edinburgh Winter 2025 with a winning average of 6.73 seconds and a best single of 6.30 seconds across four competitive rounds. Charlie Harrison took second place with an 8.32 average, while Adam Black secured third place on the podium with an 8.76 average.

Johnny Morello Kerlaff extended his dominant showing to the 2x2x2 Cube, topping a field of 94 competitors with an exceptional winning average of 1.77 seconds and a best single of 1.53 seconds. Oscar Bickmore followed in second place with a 3.17 average, edging Sam Jones who finished third with a 3.23 average. The event featured heavy participation across three complete rounds of quick turning.

Beyond the podium battles, several competitors achieved remarkable breakthroughs across their schedules. Adam Bradshaw delivered a massive improvement in the standard 3x3x3 Cube, recording a personal best of 17.52 seconds that was 60.4 percent faster than his prior mark of 44.27, while also making his first ever attempt at Pyraminx with a 10.87 and finishing 12th in blindfolded solving. Nicholas Vernon cut his Pyraminx personal best by 59.2 percent down to 5.13 seconds and registered his first Clock solve at 21.23. Raphael Carrozza reduced his 2x2x2 personal best by 58.7 percent to 3.60 seconds alongside a new Pyraminx mark of 4.42, while Theo Platt improved his 2x2x2 best by 53 percent to 2.75 seconds and recorded his first 4x4x4 attempt at 1:06.09.

The progress continued through diverse events as Luke Rigg lowered his 3x3x3 personal best by 51.2 percent to 17.82 seconds and posted a 46.92 in his first Clock attempt. Rafa Platt trimmed his 2x2x2 personal best by 46.7 percent to 3.27 seconds while tackling Megaminx for the first time with a 3:31.68 result. Zach Bartlett completed a personal best of 2.52 seconds in 2x2x2, a 46.5 percent drop from 4.71, and logged his first Megaminx attempt at 2:47.66. Hector Fraser Payton also shaved 41.7 percent off his 2x2x2 best with a 5.98 single and completed his first Clock solve at 32.79 seconds.

In the mid-sized puzzles, Max Kwok U Sam captured two major victories at Edinburgh Winter 2025. Max Kwok U Sam claimed the 4x4x4 Cube crown with a winning average of 30.70 seconds, besting Adam Black who took second in 33.70 and Charlie Harrison in third at 34.61. In the Pyraminx event, Max Kwok U Sam topped 95 entrants with a 3.83 winning average, ahead of Adam Black with 4.22 and Poland's Liam Stuart Ferreira with 4.51.

Side events rounded out the weekend schedule with tight margins. Nicky Sim won Clock with a 4.74 average over Sam Jones and Hayden Wallace. Stephen Waller took Megaminx in 53.92 seconds over Marcel Borkowski and Adam Black, while Ryan Eckersley topped Square-1 with a 9.72 average ahead of Jaye Sloan and Stephen Waller.

The full schedule at Meadowbank Sports Centre delivered an energetic speedcubing showcase across Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. From memorisation trials to speed cubing sprints, Edinburgh Winter 2025 concluded a memorable start to the 2025 calendar, underscoring the depth of talent present at this WCA competition as competitors prepare for the season ahead.