Princeton Fall 2023

The tables at Princeton University filled early on November 18, 2023, as timers flickered to life and stacks of scrambled puzzles awaited their turns under the station lights. Across the room in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, ninety-seven competitors settled in for a packed day of speedcubing across five distinct puzzles and nine rounds of action. With hardware clicking continuously across every station, the atmosphere of this autumn WCA competition was set for high-level drama, and one standout competitor was about to take firm control of the schedule.

Jerry Yao dominated the weekend, collecting first-place finishes across three separate disciplines. His headline victory arrived in the 3x3x3 Cube, where ninety-five entrants lined up across three intense rounds. Yao delivered a winning average of 7.13 seconds to capture top honors, narrowly edging out Carson Widjaja, who finished in second place with an average of 7.19 seconds. Alex Niedland rounded out the podium in third place with a 7.55 average, while Yao also authored the best single of the entire event at 4.84 seconds.

The 3x3 results formed only the centerpiece of Yao's commanding run at Princeton Fall 2023. In the 3x3x3 One-Handed event, which featured seventy-eight competitors, Yao secured another victory with a winning average of 11.36 seconds and a best single of 9.88 seconds. Shaun Mack took second place on the podium with an 11.86 average, while Zayn Khanani followed closely in third with an 11.98 mark, underscoring the fierce pace of the single-handed field.

Yao carried that same momentum straight into the big cubes, claiming gold in the 5x5x5 Cube against sixty-one entrants. He posted a winning average of 50.96 seconds alongside a best single of 48.58 seconds. Carson Widjaja collected his second runner-up finish of the day with an average of 59.32 seconds, while Hassan Khanani earned the third-place spot with an average of 1:01.10, cementing an all-American top three in the single-round showdown.

Away from the top steps, the competition buzzed with breakthrough individual performances that the podium tables never fully capture. Yuval Segall delivered a massive leap in the 2x2x2 Cube, notching a personal best single of 1.89 seconds that was 54.2 percent faster than their previous mark of 4.13. Isaac Wiginton sliced 46.6 percent off their previous best in 3x3x3 One-Handed with a swift 29.31 single, and Charlie Vater improved their 2x2x2 Cube single by 45.3 percent to 1.76 seconds while also taking eighth place in 3x3x3 Blindfolded with a 2:26.07 personal best. Megan Kuo made major strides across three events, cutting their 2x2x2 Cube best down to 2.20 seconds, a 44.9 percent improvement over their earlier 3.99 mark.

Other competitors marked unforgettable milestones by tackling events for the first time or setting massive personal bests across the board. Jarrett Kastenberg sharpened their 2x2x2 Cube single by 39.6 percent to 3.27 seconds, while Alexander Lik Sum Lau dropped their 5x5x5 Cube single to 2:19.22, a huge 39.5 percent drop from their prior standard. Callan Gilchrist produced a 32.03 single in 3x3x3 One-Handed to improve by 36.1 percent, and Niall Roche-Kelly completed their first ever attempt at 5x5x5 Cube in 2:33.24 while lowering their 2x2x2 Cube mark by 34.9 percent to 3.45 seconds. It was a clear demonstration of the personal progression that fuels every speed cubing gathering.

The short formats produced extraordinary pace in the 2x2x2 Cube, where Zayn Khanani took the championship with a winning average of 1.52 seconds across two rounds of eighty-nine solvers. Yao claimed second place on the podium with a 1.69 average, followed by Hassan Khanani in third at 1.81. The event also saw a blistering 0.83 single from Zayn Khanani and sub-two-second averages logged across the preliminary stages, demonstrating remarkable consistency on the classic mini Rubik's Cube.

The competition concluded with memory and discipline in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, where twenty-nine competitors attempted to solve the puzzle without sight after a brief memorisation phase. Kevin Liu captured the title across two rounds with a winning average of 47.86 seconds and the fastest single of 39.42 seconds. Andrew Tao earned second place with a 1:03.46 average, while William Haresch took third with 1:19.43, wrapping up a memorable edition of Princeton Fall 2023 with all fifteen podium places claimed by United States competitors.