Nub Open Mission Viejo Summer 2024

One hundred and ten competitors gathered under one roof as Nub Open Mission Viejo Summer 2024 delivered a packed single-day showcase on July 14, 2024. Staged inside the gymnasium at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, California, USA, the high-energy cubing competition brought together solvers from across the world to compete across five official events and 11 rounds of elite action. For the passionate crowd of family, friends, and peers, the home venue provided the perfect setting to witness world-class speedcubing excellence right in their own backyard.

Max Park gave the local audience everything they could have hoped for, putting on an absolute masterclass on the traditional Rubik's Cube. The American star commanded the marquee event from start to finish, ultimately securing the title with a remarkable 5.90 winning average in the final round, highlighted by a blistering 5.37 best single. In the earlier rounds, Park registered an electric 4.92 single and a 5.42 average. Ethan Yeh followed in second place with a 7.63 average, while Alexander Anikin took third on the podium with an 8.03 average to cap an extraordinary set of 3x3 results.

The 3x3x3 Cube field of 110 competitors delivered exceptional depth through all three rounds. Yeh demonstrated sharp form throughout the day, logging a 6.70 single and a 7.82 average across the rounds. Anikin notched a 6.61 single and an 8.22 average, while Kyeongmin Choi posted a 6.66 single and a 7.96 average. Other standout marks during the event included Cheng-Ying Lee recording a 7.96 single and 8.22 average, Dan Tran posting a 7.49 single and 8.39 average, Margot Audero delivering an 8.21 single and 9.31 average, Terrence Cao turning in a 7.30 single and 9.33 average, Shane Grogan finishing with an 8.90 single and 9.41 average, and Dylan Garcia securing a 6.01 single and 9.58 average.

Park doubled his gold tally in the 5x5x5 Cube, where 59 competitors tackled the larger puzzle across two demanding rounds. Park secured the victory with a 38.86 winning average, powered by an incredible 35.92 single solve that left the rest of the field trailing by more than a dozen seconds. Cheng-Ying Lee of Taiwan claimed the silver medal with a solid 51.99 average, while American competitor Dan Tran rounded out the podium positions in third place with an average of 55.27.

Beyond the familiar speed events, Nub Open Mission Viejo Summer 2024 offered specialized challenges that demanded memory and unconventional turn mechanics. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded competition, which requires pure memorisation before execution under a blindfold, Kyeongmin Choi of Korea topped the 22-person field with a 37.29 winning single in the final. Alvin Liu secured second place with a 43.19 single, while Alexander Anikin earned third with a time of 1:12.31. Choi also captured gold in Square-1, winning the two-round, 41-competitor event with an 8.44 average ahead of Ethan Yeh at 8.92 and Jack Flynn Stewart at 10.44.

Away from the top steps of the podium, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones that made the WCA competition memorable. Sean Tesler produced one of the largest single-event leaps of the day, shattering his Skewb personal best with a 9.10 solve that was 72.4 percent faster than his previous 33.01 mark. Hime Arellano took on four separate events, logging a first career attempt in Skewb at 9.08, improving his 5x5x5 Cube best to 1:40.28, and chopping 60.7 percent off his 3x3x3 Blindfolded personal best with a 1:28.79 to finish fourth overall. Timofei Sopin entered four events, posting first-ever official attempts in the 5x5x5 Cube at 1:42.77, the 3x3x3 Blindfolded at 1:53.11 for a seventh-place finish, and Skewb at 7.38.

The breakthroughs continued across the roster as solvers pushed their limits on the competition floor. Joseph Wu cut 53.6 percent off his Skewb personal best with a 7.64 and improved his 3x3x3 time to 12.28, an improvement of 27.5 percent. Boden Brierley tackled four events, slicing 49.6 percent off his Square-1 best with a 56.03, improving his Skewb mark to 7.61, and lowering his 5x5x5 time to 2:17.18. Jack McGinty cut his Square-1 best by 43.1 percent to 32.22 and improved his Skewb time to 6.00. Priyanshu Sharma completed his first Skewb attempt in 19.66 and dropped his 3x3x3 best by 36 percent down to 19.93, while Aayush Sahu took on five events, registering a first blindfolded attempt of 2:44.22, finishing ninth in Square-1, and setting a 13.85 personal best that was 35.8 percent faster.

The Skewb event rounded out the schedule with fast-paced turning across two rounds and 66 competitors. Jack Flynn Stewart captured the title with a crisp 3.05 average, supported by a 1.58 single solve in the final round. Kyeongmin Choi collected another podium place by taking second with a 4.28 average, while Shiloh D'Espyne took third place with a 4.41 average. In total, American competitors earned 9 podium spots, Korea took 3, Russia earned 2, and Taiwan secured 1.

As the day wrapped up at Trabuco Hills High School, the atmosphere reflected the true spirit of speed cubing, where elite world-class performances met individual personal triumphs. Nub Open Mission Viejo Summer 2024 served as a shining example of Southern California's vibrant cubing community in 2024, sending competitors home with fresh personal bests and memories to build upon as the competitive calendar moves forward.