Flag City Summer 2023

When Luke Garrett assembled a blistering 5.36 winning average in the 3x3x3 Cube final, it served as a clear declaration that repeatable execution beats single-solve fortune. Garrett captured the title across three rigorous rounds by outlasting Luke Griesser, who placed second with a 6.16 average, and Andy Denney, who took third at 6.54. Throughout the weekend at Findlay High School, competitors discovered that surviving multi-round tournaments required dependable pacing over sheer risk. Flag City Summer 2023 proved to be a masterclass in controlled precision across a packed schedule.

The two-day WCA competition took place on July 22 to July 23 in Findlay, Ohio, USA, drawing an ambitious field of 106 competitors. Across 13 events and 23 rounds of speed cubing action, athletes pushed their limits on puzzles ranging from the classic Rubik's Cube to intricate big cubes. While 99 entrants contested the marquee 3x3 results, the schedule challenged versatility. Across the board, podium spots were earned through steady hands across full five-solve averages rather than solitary fast times.

Garrett put together a remarkably dominant performance throughout the cubing competition, securing multiple first-place finishes. In the 2x2x2 Cube, Garrett secured gold with a 1.71 winning average, finishing ahead of Sujan Feist at 1.87 and Jack Pfeifer at 2.19. Garrett also topped the 3x3x3 One-Handed event with a 9.91 average, won the 4x4x4 Cube in 27.23, claimed the Megaminx in 42.21, and captured the Clock title with a 5.20 average over Caleb Kearney's 5.24 and Gabrielle Morasse's 6.34.

The big cube categories belonged entirely to Jack Pfeifer, whose systematic approach delivered three individual victories. Pfeifer clinched the 5x5x5 Cube with a winning average of 50.76, while Garrett took second at 53.40 and Griesser followed in third at 53.51. Pfeifer then swept the remaining large puzzles, winning the 6x6x6 Cube in 1:31.96 ahead of Garrett's 1:42.48 and Griesser's 2:02.54, before capping his run by taking the 7x7x7 Cube with a 2:27.33 average over Garrett and Griesser.

Specialty disciplines rounded out the weekend's high-stakes action. Chris Chi captured the Skewb title with a 3.46 winning average, finishing clear of Garrett at 3.73 and Mason Langenderfer at 3.86, while also claiming top honours in Square-1 with an 8.37 average. Ezra Shere took first place in Pyraminx with a 1.81 mark from a field of 79 competitors. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, where pure recall and mechanical certainty rule, Langenderfer topped the podium with a 37.50 average over Pfeifer and Chi.

Away from the top steps of the podium, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones across their individual schedules. Jarrett Scheid put together a massive performance by cutting his Skewb personal best by 71.3 percent to 2.91 seconds and his Megaminx mark by 28.3 percent to 1:37.46, while tackling his first ever attempt at Clock with a time of 16.11 across 12 entered events. Blake Philip improved his Clock personal best by 32 percent to 23.66, logged a 35th-place finish in Megaminx, and registered his first ever attempt at Skewb at 4.53 alongside a first attempt at 3x3x3 One-Handed in 46.00.

The drive for progress was visible across every stage of experience. Niranjan Karthikeyan recorded a personal best of 6.45 in Pyraminx, 32.5 percent faster than before, while also setting a new mark of 30.11 in One-Handed and notching a first attempt at Skewb in 10.70. Aiden Zangmeister lowered his Pyraminx best by 22.1 percent to 10.30 and took on initial attempts in 2x2x2 Cube and Skewb. Anthony Ozmun contested 11 events, highlighted by a 28th-place finish in 7x7x7 Cube, while Riley Ridner, Grant Daniel Po'oi, and Finley Brown each logged multiple debut marks in new events, including Brown's 5.85 in 2x2x2 Cube and 8.23 in Pyraminx.

The gathering in Findlay underscored the depth of regional speedcubing talent, with athletes from the USA claiming 38 podium spots alongside an international podium finish for Canada. Across two days of intense solving, the event rewarded those who balanced speed with discipline over every turn. As Flag City Summer 2023 drew to a close, the weekend demonstrated that sustained consistency remains the true hallmark of elite puzzle solving.