Kooyong Clock Clash 2025

The competition floor inside Hawthorn Library buzzed with focused energy as 40 competitors gathered for two full days of high-stakes puzzle solving. Across tables arranged throughout the Melbourne, Victoria, Australia venue, timers were tested, stopwatches prepped, and scoresheets aligned. From the opening moments of the weekend, the venue fostered an environment where precision turning met intense focus, setting the stage for a compelling speedcubing competition that brought together seasoned champions and ambitious solvers testing their limits.

The action got underway across the weekend of August 16 to August 17, 2025, offering a robust schedule of 10 events spread over 20 intense rounds. While the standard 3x3 results typically define the rhythm of open tournaments, this gathering leaned heavily into complex disciplines, featuring big cubes, specialist side events, and multiple blindfolded categories. Solvers navigated strict time limits and complex notation, pushing through qualifying rounds on Saturday to earn coveted lanes in Sunday finals.

The big cube categories delivered exceptional masterclasses in algorithmic speed and consistency. In the 5x5x5 Cube, Feliks Zemdegs captured the victory with a winning average of 42.60, underpinned by a sharp best single of 39.40. Firstian Fushada took second place with a 47.44 average, edging David Epstein who finished third in 47.46. Zemdegs continued his dominant run in the 6x6x6 Cube, logging a top average of 1:20.43 and a best single of 1:17.71 to secure first place over Fushada and Epstein. In the 7x7x7 Cube, Zemdegs completed his sweep of the large puzzles, recording an unmatched winning average of 2:06.03 alongside a 1:54.90 single.

The blindfolded disciplines presented some of the most taxing challenges of the weekend, demanding flawless spatial memory under strict competition conditions. Michael Tripodi produced remarkable precision to claim the 3x3x3 Blindfolded title with a single of 21.92 seconds, ahead of Fushada at 22.99 and Swami Srinivasan at 31.53. Tripodi backed that triumph with an outstanding performance in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, securing victory by successfully solving 35 out of 41 cubes in 58:41. Meanwhile, Firstian Fushada claimed the 4x4x4 Blindfolded title with a winning average of 3:51.17, and Swami Srinivasan topped the 5x5x5 Blindfolded field with a winning single of 13:33.00.

The competition schedule also showcased technical variety through Clock, Square-1, and Megaminx. In the namesake Clock event, Alex Butera secured first place with an average of 3.74 seconds, holding off Zayd Chaudhry at 3.93 and Veer Liu Dogra at 4.33. David Epstein demonstrated world-class dexterity on Square-1, winning with a swift 5.42 average and a round-best 4.76 single. The Megaminx event saw Firstian Fushada take the top step of the podium with a 32.97 average, holding off strong challenges from Roman Rudakov and Darcy Way.

Beyond the podium battles, significant individual milestones defined the event. Maxwell Dorset delivered a massive performance across six events, cutting his 7x7x7 Cube personal best to 3:19.87, an improvement of 39 percent, while trimming 16.2 percent off his 6x6x6 Cube mark with a 2:35.91. Oliver Drew tackled eight events, improving his 6x6x6 Cube best by 23.6 percent to 2:25.12 and dropping his 7x7x7 Cube time to 4:05.00, an 18.7 percent reduction. Peter Au entered nine events, earning a fourth-place finish in 5x5x5 Blindfolded while lowering his 3x3x3 Blindfolded personal best by 17.9 percent to 58.52 seconds. Marcus Lai made his WCA competition debut, recording his first official attempts in the 5x5x5 Cube at 2:01.98, the Clock at 25.25, and the Megaminx at 1:56.54.

Other solvers achieved major breakthroughs across the board. Nicholas Mouratidis took on six events and achieved a 20 percent personal best improvement in Megaminx with a 33.90, alongside a 17.6 percent improvement in Clock at 3.09 seconds. Henry Tran entered four events and lowered his 5x5x5 Cube personal best by 15.1 percent to 1:09.54. Oscar Niizeki reached a best finish of seventh in 4x4x4 Blindfolded and improved his Clock mark by 15.4 percent down to 7.46 seconds. Lucas Dinh earned a fifth-place finish in Clock while cutting his 7x7x7 Cube personal best by 14.7 percent to 4:19.65. These individual strides added profound depth to the entire weekend.

As the final rounds wrapped up on Sunday afternoon, Australian competitors captured 23 podium places, with Indonesian competitors securing seven. Across every solve, the speed cubing gathering proved to be a vibrant demonstration of focus and versatility. Solvers who began their journeys on a standard Rubik's Cube proved their mastery across twelve-sided dodecahedrons, complex mechanical dials, and memory-intensive blindfolded puzzles. With twenty rounds completed and dozens of personal records updated in Melbourne, Kooyong Clock Clash 2025 concluded as a memorable showcase of modern speedcubing excellence.