No Sprinting NY 2026

A massive 58 out of 64 cubes solved blindfolded by Rowe Hessler in 59:01 highlighted a weekend of absolute domestic dominance at Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York, USA. Across two days of action from January 17 to January 18, 2026, 41 competitors assembled for No Sprinting NY 2026, tackling 11 different events spanning 18 rounds. By Sunday evening, competitors representing the United States captured every single podium position awarded, securing 38 top-three finishes across the program in a total sweep of the regional speedcubing fixture.

Hessler set the benchmark in the blindfolded disciplines, not only delivering the decisive 3x3x3 Multi-Blind performance over runner-up Andrew Tao, who managed 52 out of 63 in one hour flat, but also securing victories in the other memory-based events. In the 4x4x4 Blindfolded discipline, Hessler secured the win with a single of 3:34.46 across a field of 7 entrants. He followed that with top honours in the 5x5x5 Blindfolded contest, recording a winning single of 5:17.88 as all three fellow finalists failed to record a completion. Tao answered in the standard 3x3x3 Blindfolded division, taking first place with a single of 19.13 ahead of Hessler's 19.52.

Big cubes delivered another set of tightly contested finishes, led by Stanley Chapel and Ayden Dincher. Chapel captured first place in the 5x5x5 Cube, putting up a winning average of 49.58 along with the round's best single of 45.28 among 32 entrants. Chapel returned to the stage to claim the 7x7x7 Cube title with a 2:34.16 average, holding off Dincher's 2:42.49 and Declan Wilhelm's 2:58.09. Dincher took his own title in the 6x6x6 Cube, clocking a winning average of 1:34.72 to best Chapel's 1:37.82 and Parker Trager's 1:44.57.

Short-format puzzles and specialised events drew large turnouts across all three rounds of action. In 3x3x3 One-Handed, Brian Johnson took top honours with a winning average of 9.95, backed by the best single of the event at 7.64 among 32 competitors. Johnson doubled his gold count in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, taking first with an average of 21.67 moves, narrowly edging Chris Chi at 22.00 and Joseph Guzman at 22.67. Meanwhile, Hassan Khanani captured the Square-1 crown with a 5.17 average and a 3.92 single, ahead of Johnson's 5.62, while Nicolas Naing topped Megaminx with a 31.09 average over Wilhelm's 40.54.

Beyond the podium battles, significant milestones unfolded across the competition floor. Andrew Zhao led the weekend improvements by knocking 40.4 percent off his Megaminx personal best with a mark of 1:42.19, alongside a 21.8 percent improvement in 3x3x3 One-Handed at 27.48 and his first ever official attempt at 5x5x5 Cube in 2:11.49. Andrew Joshua took on nine events, finishing fourth in 3x3x3 Blindfolded while dropping his single to 1:12.13, a 30.2 percent improvement, alongside personal bests in one-handed solving at 13.92 and 5x5x5 Cube at 1:00.28. Noah Cudilla lowered his one-handed mark by 25.8 percent to 19.71, improved his 7x7x7 Cube time to 5:07.24, and posted a 1:22.56 in Megaminx.

Other competitors took on ambitious debuts and multi-event schedules throughout the weekend. Ryan Huang took on seven events, placing seventh in Multi-Blind while logging his first official attempts in Square-1 at 28.98, 5x5x5 Cube at 2:09.19, and 3x3x3 Blindfolded at 2:32.60. Samuel Cano entered eight events, securing tenth in Multi-Blind and logging his first attempts at 3x3x3 Blindfolded in 6:35.58, one-handed solving in 33.65, and Megaminx in 2:20.98. Matt Degala notched ninth in 3x3x3 One-Handed with a 14.82 personal best, alongside big-cube personal bests of 1:58.42 in 6x6x6 Cube and 59.52 in 5x5x5 Cube. Samin Yasar made an official one-handed debut at 20.82, and first-time entrant Emmett Snyder completed his initial official speed cubing appearance with an opening one-handed solve of 1:00.44.

Julian Kim, the founder and developer of Speedcubing.app, completed a heavy schedule of nine events at the tournament. He earned tenth place in his first official attempt at 3x3x3 Multi-Blind and finished 15th in 3x3x3 Blindfolded. Across the remaining schedule, he recorded seventeenth-place finishes in 5x5x5 Cube with a personal best average of 1:23.52, 6x6x6 Cube with a 2:59.46 average, 7x7x7 Cube with a personal best 4:17.42 average, 3x3x3 One-Handed with a personal best 22.47 average, Megaminx with a 1:16.74 average, and Square-1 with a personal best 24.03 average, concluding his weekend with twentieth place in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves.

The diverse schedule offered a complete showcase of Rubik's Cube variants and extended solving disciplines, proving that a major cubing competition can balance elite speed with endurance challenges. From the blindfolded marathons to standard 3x3 results across alternate handling styles, No Sprinting NY 2026 delivered an extensive weekend of results. With every podium spot claimed by American competitors and dozens of personal marks rewritten, the 2026 WCA competition season in New York opened with high standards across all eleven events.