Kewbz UK Open 2024

337 competitors gathered at the SportsDock venue across August 31 and September 1, 2024, setting the stage for a high-intensity weekend at Kewbz UK Open 2024. Staged in Newham, Greater London, United Kingdom, the premier WCA competition tested elite talent and grassroots solvers alike across 7 events and 17 demanding rounds. With major titles on the line, every turn of the Rubik's Cube carried weight as solvers pushed their skills through multi-round elimination brackets to claim national and international glory.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube contest drew a massive field of 316 entrants through 4 gruelling rounds. Poland's Tymon Kolasiński delivered a masterclass in speedcubing, securing top honours with a blistering 5.25 winning average and a round-best single solve of 4.28. Australian legend Feliks Zemdegs pushed the pace in second place with a 5.74 average, while the United Kingdom's James Alonso locked down the third spot on the podium with an average of 6.52, concluding an electric display of top-tier 3x3 results.

Kolasiński doubled his gold medal haul in the 4x4x4 Cube, outpacing 204 other competitors across 2 rounds. His winning average of 21.32 and a rapid single of 18.41 proved untouchable in the final round. Feliks Zemdegs captured another second-place podium finish with a 22.22 average, while Harishan Ramanan of the United Kingdom secured the third step on the podium with an average of 28.29 to round out the big-cube battles.

Short-format speed cubing events delivered intense, fraction-of-a-second battles on the SportsDock tables. In the 2x2x2 Cube, Max Tully of the United Kingdom claimed victory among 276 entrants with an exceptional 1.54 winning average and a 1.22 single across 3 rounds. James Alonso took second place with 1.59, closely followed by Caleb Wolf Dunn in third at 1.69. The Skewb tournament saw Ariel Benchetrit finish on top of 206 competitors with a 2.86 average, while Matt Stephenson and Caleb Wolf Dunn secured second and third place with averages of 4.17 and 4.62 respectively.

Specialist categories brought additional championship drama across the weekend. Daniel Partridge won the 233-person Pyraminx competition with a stellar 2.23 average, leading Danny Morgan at 3.18 and Rufus Cripps at 3.51. In Clock, Danny Morgan took the title with a 3.50 average over Aidan Grainger at 3.86 and Daniel Partridge at 3.90. Nicholas Archer triumphed in 3x3x3 One-Handed among 195 competitors, recording a 9.91 winning average and a 7.83 single to finish ahead of Ireland's Tao Yu (喻韬) at 11.40 and Louis de Mendonça at 11.77.

Beyond the championship podiums, the cubing competition served as a proving ground for remarkable personal milestones. Max Joseph delivered one of the weekend's biggest performance leaps, improving his 4x4x4 Cube personal best to 33.89, which was 71.5 percent faster than his previous mark, alongside taking on Clock for the first time with a 15.17 single. Leila Harvey took 56.4 percent off her previous Pyraminx mark with a 9.11 single, while also registering a first 2x2x2 Cube solve of 17.47. Evie Bliss tackled 7 events, cutting her Skewb best by 46.6 percent to 8.78 and posting a first Clock single of 29.00. Zachary Pruden shaved 44.3 percent off his 3x3x3 Cube best with a 21.45 single, alongside a first Pyraminx mark of 7.74.

Other competitors expanded their repertoires across new puzzles at Kewbz UK Open 2024. Jason Hoang Vu notched a 42.8 percent improvement on his 2x2x2 Cube mark down to 1.94 while posting his first 4x4x4 Cube solve of 52.26. Chloe Yim earned a best finish of 25th in Skewb, dropping her personal best by 42 percent to 4.28 and logging a first Pyraminx single of 6.22. Jiayi Zheng took on 7 events, achieving a best finish of 78th in Pyraminx and making first official attempts in 4x4x4 Cube at 1:25.73 and Clock at 20.02. Isabella Sequeiros Egan took on 4 events, recording first attempts in Skewb at 29.60, Pyraminx at 18.27, and the 3x3x3 Cube at 44.28.

The medal table reflected strong domestic depth alongside world-class international flair, with competitors from the United Kingdom claiming 16 podium spots, Poland taking 2, Australia taking 2, and Ireland securing 1. Across two packed days of elite head-to-head racing and developmental breakthroughs, Kewbz UK Open 2024 reaffirmed the vitality of the sport in London and set a high competitive benchmark for the remainder of the 2024 season.