Ottawa Blindfolded 2025

Inside the halls of A.Y. Jackson S.S., the quiet atmosphere was thick with intense focus on September 27, 2025. Competitors sat motionless before their tables, studying the scrambled plastic mechanisms before donning blindfolds and plunging into pure mental reconstruction. Blindfolded speedcubing demands an extraordinary combination of spatial memory and precise execution, stripping away visual feedback entirely. For the gathering of specialists in Kanata, Ontario, Canada, the single-day program offered a pure test of recall across four demanding disciplines.

Nowhere was the physical and mental toll more evident than in the largest puzzle on the schedule, the 5x5x5 Blindfolded event. Managing the massive quantity of center pieces, wings, and corners without sight requires unmatched endurance and absolute concentration over extended periods. Marcel Martel demonstrated remarkable resilience, navigating the immense complexity of the big cube to take the victory with a best single time of 17:17.00. Cyrille Beauchesne claimed second place with a time of 19:33.00, while Breton MacDonald rounded out the Canadian sweep of the podium with a 32:42.00 effort.

The 4x4x4 Blindfolded event presented a similarly grueling examination of memory management and parity handling. Bilal El Rawas delivered a standout performance, capturing the title with a swift single of 2:53.88. The Lebanese competitor pulled ahead of a determined field of 13 entrants, navigating the complex piece tracking with precision. Cyrille Beauchesne took the runner-up spot with a time of 11:07.00, and Marco Yang secured third place on the podium with a 16:01.00 single.

Beyond the standalone big cubes, the 3x3x3 Multi-Blind event brought a distinct brand of marathon endurance to Ottawa Blindfolded 2025. Solvers spent extensive preparation periods memorizing entire rows of cubes before attempting to solve every puzzle consecutively under blindfold. Breton MacDonald excelled across the long haul, successfully solving 11 out of 12 cubes in a time of 56:36 to claim the championship. Cyrille Beauchesne followed closely in second position with 9 out of 10 cubes solved in 49:01, while Steven Phang earned third place by finishing 6 out of 7 cubes in 31:21.

Away from the top of the podiums, the official scorecards revealed tremendous personal milestones and remarkable progress. Jonathan Proulx produced one of the most dramatic leaps of the weekend, securing a 4x4x4 Blindfolded personal best of 14:22.00, which improved upon his previous best mark by 57.6 percent while placing fourth. Peter Osudar focused his efforts entirely on a single discipline and took sixth place in 3x3x3 Blindfolded, logging a personal best of 2:18.33 that was 36 percent faster than his prior standard. Hiêu Thành Pham tackled four separate disciplines, recording a 35.5 percent improvement to notch a 43.35 personal best in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event and completing his first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Multi-Blind with 3 out of 4 cubes in 19:25.

Other competitors similarly pushed their limits across the challenging schedule at this WCA competition. Elijah De Groote contested four events and achieved a personal best of 5 out of 6 cubes in 53:48 in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, matching his weekend-best fourth-place outcome in the 5x5x5 Blindfolded discipline. Darshan Bhavanasi earned a fifth-place finish in 3x3x3 Multi-Blind across his three events, while Skye Mcfadzen took on three events with a best result of seventh in 4x4x4 Blindfolded. Seungmin Hong entered three categories and finished seventh in 4x4x4 Blindfolded, and Ben Bergen took fourth place in his sole appearance during the 3x3x3 Blindfolded rounds.

The standard three-layered Rubik's Cube brought rapid-fire pace to the competition floor, where 15 competitors took part across two rounds of play. Bilal El Rawas completed a golden double at Ottawa Blindfolded 2025 by winning the 3x3x3 Blindfolded final with a decisive winning average of 32.34 and a best single of 31.32. Steven Phang followed in second place with an average of 41.01, and Marcel Martel took the third spot on the podium with a 55.95 mark. Across the broader 3x3 results, competitors tested their speed cubing methods to push standard puzzle solving down to mere seconds of mental calculation.

With five rounds spanning four events, Ottawa Blindfolded 2025 brought together a dedicated roster of 15 competitors for a full day of elite memory sports in Ontario. Canadian competitors captured 10 of the 12 podium spots awarded throughout the day, while Lebanon earned two podium finishes through El Rawas's double victory. As the cubing competition drew to a close at A.Y. Jackson S.S., Ottawa Blindfolded 2025 highlighted both the stamina needed for large blindfolded puzzles and the technical accuracy required across the entire discipline.