Farewell Strathclyde University 2026

Inside the Learning and Teaching Building at Strathclyde University, the usual rush of timers and spinning plastic gave way to a different kind of focus. Across the venue, tables were set with sheets of paper and pens as competitors studied scrambled cubes without making a sound. The four-day gathering brought together 81 competitors across 17 events and 45 rounds, transforming the academic hall into an arena of intense calculation and rapid hand movements spanning every facet of modern cubing discipline.

While fast turns typically define a speedcubing meet, the 3x3x3 Fewest Moves event provided a masterclass in deliberate analysis. Competitors spent sixty quiet minutes writing out solutions move by move, hunting for maximum efficiency rather than raw velocity. Bella Campbell captured first place in the event, delivering a winning average of 26.00 moves alongside a tournament-best single of 18 moves. Ivo Stoutjesdijk secured second place with an average of 26.67, while Mattheo de Wit completed the podium at 28.67 moves, highlighting the intricate mental demands of the quietest contest of the weekend.

The broader WCA competition quickly shifted from deliberative writing back to lightning-fast solving across the standard speed cubing categories. In the headline 3x3x3 Cube event, Daniel Rush took victory through three demanding rounds, securing top honours with a winning average of 6.72 seconds to lead the 3x3 results, backed by a tournament single of 5.72. The classic Rubik's Cube was just one of many successes for Rush, who established a commanding presence across the weekend by claiming top honours in four additional rotational events.

Rush proved equally formidable on the larger cubes, claiming victories across the 4x4x4 Cube with a 25.16 average, the 5x5x5 Cube with a 44.24 average, the 6x6x6 Cube in 1:15.03, and the 7x7x7 Cube with a mark of 1:54.30. His performances on the biggest stages yielded substantial milestones, including African record marks in the 6x6x6 Cube single at 1:05.86 and average at 1:15.03, as well as an African record single of 1:47.51 and an African record average of 1:52.95 in the 7x7x7 Cube.

Away from the top steps of the podium, several competitors delivered massive personal breakthroughs across their schedules. Rory Gilmour achieved an extraordinary 49.6 percent improvement on his 2x2x2 Cube mark with a new personal best of 3.80 seconds, alongside a 13.58 Clock best that was 24.6 percent faster than his prior record. Carsen Fleming tackled 12 events, taking on his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a 64, a first Square-1 solve of 33.15, and cutting his Skewb best by 48.9 percent to 4.15 seconds. Arran Berry Simpson sliced 47.6 percent off his Skewb personal best down to 5.21 seconds and improved his 2x2x2 Cube mark by 31.3 percent to 2.64.

That same momentum carried through the rest of the running order as solvers tackled unfamiliar events and pushed their limits. Arthur Carlsen improved his Skewb mark by 42.5 percent down to 6.31 seconds, while Finley Asprey cut 41.2 percent from his Skewb record to 11.21 and logged first ever attempts in Clock at 25.97 and 2x2x2 Cube at 9.82. Alex Buchanan dropped 35.6 percent off his Pyraminx mark to 10.60 seconds, Matthew Scott completed his first ever attempts at Pyraminx in 14.45, Megaminx in 2:28.97, and Skewb in 18.56, and Darragh Young took on nine events, logging his first attempts at Skewb in 16.87, 4x4x4 Cube in 1:26.60, and 6x6x6 Cube in 5:31.44.

Short-format events produced remarkable times of their own, led by Jacob Sherwen Brown, who won the 2x2x2 Cube with a rapid 1.46 average ahead of Ivo Stoutjesdijk. In Skewb, Mattheo de Wit earned first place with a 2.73 winning average and set a Dutch national record average of 2.10 during the event. Luan Philippe Da Silva claimed the 3x3x3 One-Handed title with a 12.98 average, Seth Malachy Wilson Paterson finished first in Clock with a 4.42 average, Jimi Naysmith won Megaminx with an average of 40.33, and Taj Bressert secured the Pyraminx title at 3.69.

The blindfolded disciplines tested pure recall and spatial mapping across multiple rounds. Ryan Eckersley captured the Square-1 title with a 9.51 average, then dominated the memory events by winning the 4x4x4 Blindfolded in 1:31.88 and the 5x5x5 Blindfolded in 2:35.72. Ivo Stoutjesdijk took the 3x3x3 Blindfolded victory with a best single of 22.36 seconds, and Alistair Miller triumphed in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind by resolving 20 of 24 cubes within an exact hour of 1:00:00.

Across the four days from June 27 to June 30, Farewell Strathclyde University 2026 concluded its extensive programme in Glasgow, City of Glasgow, United Kingdom. From the deliberate quiet of paper-based fewest moves solving to high-speed dexterity across 17 distinct formats, the cubing competition showcased the complete breadth of the discipline in 2026, leaving a lasting competitive mark across all 45 rounds contested.