I Hope It's Solved Edmonton 2025

Elijah Mok delivered the quickest performance of the weekend at I Hope It's Solved Edmonton 2025, taking the 3x3x3 Blindfolded title with a winning single of 45.44 seconds in the final round. Over three rounds of blindfolded solving at Finning Canada, Mok set the pace for the gathering, even posting a 31.23 single in an earlier stage. Cooper Kurata claimed the runner-up spot with a time of 1:25.80, while Raiyan Abdulrub completed the podium at 1:29.23. The standard three-by-three Rubik's Cube proved to be a central focus as competitors tackled memorisation alongside quick manual turns.

The competition, hosted in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on December 20 and 21, brought together 22 competitors across seven rounds and five official events. This specialized cubing competition gave dedicated speedcubing enthusiasts a venue to push their analytical limits in the final stretch of 2025. While typical tournaments feature traditional head-to-head sprint categories, this weekend highlighted memory, spatial calculation, and efficiency across every bracket. Canada swept the podium placements entirely, earning all 19 available podium positions across the five disciplines.

Alongside the single-cube blindfolded division, the weekend produced close contests in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves. Deven Huard-Bernuy took victory with an average of 22.67 moves, anchored by a best single solution of 22 moves. Elijah De Groote secured second place with a 25.67 average, followed by Zach Ramer in third position with an average of 32.00 moves. The event tests pure efficiency with the Rubik's Cube, requiring solvers to construct an optimal solution on paper within a strict sixty-minute window rather than racing the physical stopwatch.

Multi-Blind solving tested endurance as 15 competitors took on several cubes while keeping their eyes covered throughout the execution phase. Zach Ramer claimed first place by successfully resolving 11 out of 13 cubes in a time of 52:42. Raiyan Abdulrub followed closely in second place by logging 10 of 11 cubes in 59:30, while Rex Kotovich earned third with a perfect 8 out of 8 cubes completed in 58:40. The event demanded prolonged focus, demanding accurate tracking of dozens of pieces across multiple puzzles without sight.

The long-form events also featured larger blindfolded cubes at I Hope It's Solved Edmonton 2025, where solving without sight scales up significantly in complexity. Cooper Kurata secured victory in 4x4x4 Blindfolded with a single of 7:41.22, ahead of Zach Ramer with 8:20.10 and Raiyan Abdulrub with 14:08.00. The 5x5x5 Blindfolded round proved remarkably unforgiving, with all seven entrants, including Deven Huard-Bernuy, Zach Ramer, Xavier Saunders, Cooper Kurata, Rex Kotovich, Elijah De Groote, and Raiyan Abdulrub, recording a DNF.

Beyond the podium battles, several participants marked personal milestones that the final standings do not fully capture. Denis Reimer cut his personal best in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves down to 33, a sharp 29.8 percent improvement over his previous mark of 47, while also securing 10th in Multi-Blind. Yvonne Chow improved her 3x3x3 Blindfolded best by 18.6 percent to 2:05.42 on her way to a fourth-place finish. Dylan Vaskevicius logged his first ever attempt at 4x4x4 Blindfolded with an 18:39.00 single and finished fourth in Fewest Moves across four events entered.

First-time attempts in complex events highlighted the technical growth throughout the roster at this WCA competition. Jayden Lu took on his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, finishing with a score of 48 across his three events. David Sellmer also completed his first attempt in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a mark of 45 to finish ninth. Niels Nijstad achieved a sixth-place finish in 4x4x4 Blindfolded across four events, Austin Jensen took seventh in Fewest Moves across three events, and Alex Mutch earned eighth in Fewest Moves across his three events.

The two days of speed cubing at Finning Canada closed out the 2025 calendar with a rigorous showcase of mental discipline. While traditional 3x3 results often hinge purely on quick manual execution, this schedule demanded sustained concentration across memorisation and strategy. Competitors left I Hope It's Solved Edmonton 2025 having tested their planning, patience, and speed on the official stage, establishing fresh benchmarks as the community looks ahead to the next season of competitive solving across the region.