Oregon Championship 2024

Inside the halls of the Holiday Inn Portland Airport, the constant click and glide of puzzle plastic filled the air across three full days of action. With 159 competitors assembling in Portland, Oregon, USA from September 13 to September 15, the gathering carried the intense focus of a major regional showdown. Staging 17 events across 28 rigorous rounds, every bracket demanded absolute consistency just to survive the early cuts. Simply advancing beyond the opening phase required precision under pressure as competitors jostled for limited spots at the solving stations.

The sheer depth of the field meant that advancing through the preliminary heats was an uphill struggle. Nowhere was that pressure more evident than in the premier 3x3x3 Cube, where 151 solvers lined up for the opening stage. Over three grueling rounds, the cutoffs squeezed the roster down to the absolute elite. When the final concluded, William Greninger emerged at the top of the official 3x3 results with a winning average of 7.44 seconds, backed by a best single of 7.21. Michael Lee claimed second place with a 7.73 average, while Aiden Bartlett secured third with an 8.37 mark.

Greninger established a formidable presence throughout the Oregon Championship 2024, collecting a quartet of victories across the weekend. In the 4x4x4 Cube, which drew 96 participants, he took first place with a 30.29 average and a 24.16 single. He followed that up in the 5x5x5 Cube, besting 64 competitors with a 51.15 winning average, finishing ahead of runner-up Livia Kleiner at 58.87 and third-place Ash Black at 59.40. Greninger then added the 3x3x3 One-Handed title, producing an average of 13.16 to outpace Black and Lee in a 87-player field.

Beyond the classic Rubik's Cube variants, the competition demanded complete versatility from anyone seeking silverware. Ash Black delivered standout performances across the short-format puzzles, capturing the Pyraminx crown over 102 competitors with a 2.64 average and winning Skewb with a 2.28 average from a field of 91, finishing ahead of Ezra Severson and Bartlett. Severson had his own moment at the top of the podium, capturing the 2x2x2 Cube title with a blisteringly fast 1.77 winning average out of 130 entrants.

In the specialty side events, Greyson James navigated a 66-competitor Clock field to win with a 4.45 average, finishing ahead of Anishk Arora and Viet Nguyen. Daniel Yang took top honors in Megaminx with a 42.51 average among 64 entrants, while Aiden Bartlett secured the Square-1 victory with an average of 7.52. In the big cube categories, Kevin Hays dominated the field, capturing the 6x6x6 Cube with a 1:26.10 average and the 7x7x7 Cube with a 2:01.83 winning mark.

While the top steps of the podium drew headlines, the heart of the speed cubing gathering lay in the quiet breakthroughs accomplished throughout the preliminary rounds. Parker Ryan took on seven different events, dropping their 2x2x2 Cube personal best to 3.41, an improvement of 54.8 percent over their previous best of 7.55, while also logging a first attempt at 4x4x4 Cube in 1:54.21 and Clock in 35.32. Grace Chhit competed across four events and shaved 40.1 percent off their previous 3x3x3 Cube mark to record a 35.05 personal best, while making initial event attempts in Pyraminx at 11.44 and Skewb at 27.83. Tobias Butcher tackled seven events, slicing 37.9 percent off their 2x2x2 Cube standard down to 4.04 and making initial attempts in 3x3x3 One-Handed at 1:19.22 and Skewb at 16.11. Kaleb Kidney took on 12 events, improving their Clock best by 20.2 percent to 9.09, registering a first 3x3x3 One-Handed mark of 39.30, and earning a 39th place finish in Megaminx.

That same drive defined several other competitors who expanded their repertoire at this speedcubing festival. Ethan Nguyen contested eight events, securing an eighth-place finish in 3x3x3 Blindfolded with an initial success of 2:04.70, while also recording maiden attempts in 4x4x4 Cube at 1:43.92 and Square-1 at 59.66. Titus Francis embraced an eight-event workload, posting maiden competition results in Skewb at 15.89, 5x5x5 Cube at 2:43.55, and Megaminx at 2:16.87 to finish 46th. Genuwin C. Chhit took on six events to place 14th in Skewb with a 2.97 debut, alongside first attempts in Pyraminx at 5.15 and 3x3x3 One-Handed at 23.85. John Allan Schaefer entered five events, recording initial attempts in 2x2x2 Cube at 6.93 and Pyraminx at 6.72 while improving their 3x3x3 Cube mark by 17.3 percent to 17.31.

The blindfolded solving disciplines brought extreme technical mastery to the tables, requiring complete memorisation before turning a single face without sight. Jason White delivered a remarkable double in the complex blind categories, claiming the 4x4x4 Blindfolded title with a 5:12.84 average and the 5x5x5 Blindfolded victory with a best single of 11:11.00. In 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, Mexico representative Azael Toysehua took the win by successfully solving a perfect 10 out of 10 cubes in 44:49, besting White who registered 13 out of 17 cubes in 57:23, while India solver Arjun Shetty took third with 5 out of 5 in 39:28.

The 3x3x3 Blindfolded crown went to Alvin Liu, who paced the 31-person field with a 36.93 single, while Benjamin Gottschalk won the 3x3x3 Fewest Moves contest with an average of 33.33 moves over White and Clancy Caster. Across the entire weekend, United States competitors collected 46 podium spots, with Mexico and India taking three each. As the equipment was packed away at the conclusion of Oregon Championship 2024, the event stood as a benchmark for local depth and relentless competition across every discipline in the sport.