CubingUSA Rocky Mountain Championship 2023

Across three demanding elimination stages in Denver, Colorado, USA, Nicolás Sánchez produced a blistering 6.46-second average in the final round to capture the 3x3x3 Cube title. That decisive mark, backed by a 5.80 single, stood as the crowning moment of the CubingUSA Rocky Mountain Championship 2023. Held at the Colorado Convention Center from November 3 to November 5, the major speedcubing gathering welcomed 288 competitors tackling 17 events spread across 32 tightly scheduled rounds of action.

The tournament tested stamina and precision through layered multi-round brackets, where early-round cut structures required solvers to stay sharp from the opening turn. In the premier 3x3x3 Cube event, an initial field of 280 entrants was whittled down to the fastest contenders before Sánchez secured the victory over Brian Johnson, who averaged 6.87 seconds, and Ryan Pilat, who rounded out the podium at 6.95 seconds. The 3x3 results highlighted an elite final where tiny fractions of a second separated the podium finishers in the world's most famous Rubik's Cube discipline.

Brian Johnson assembled one of the most remarkable multi-event campaigns of the entire weekend. In the fast-paced 2x2x2 Cube event, which also spanned three full rounds and attracted 237 competitors, Johnson took first place with a blistering 1.24 average, besting Carter Kucala with a 1.62 and Sánchez with a 1.78. Johnson continued his dominance across alternate disciplines, earning victory in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a 24.33 average, just ahead of Kucala's 25.33 and Samuel Baird's 29.00. He also captured the 3x3x3 One-Handed crown with a 10.89 average, topping Pilat's 11.85 and Kavin Tangtartharakul's 11.94.

Big cube specialists faced intense single-round formats and strict time allocations where every solve directly influenced the overall podium. Benjamin Wei delivered a commanding sweep across the upper-order puzzles, claiming first place in the 5x5x5 Cube with a 51.76 average across two rounds, while also winning the single-round showdowns in 6x6x6 Cube with a 1:22.66 average and 7x7x7 Cube with a 2:08.38 average. In 4x4x4 Cube, Varun Mohanraj navigated a 177-competitor bracket over two rounds to win the final with a 24.78 average.

The blindfolded categories offered an unforgiving format where competitors faced binary outcomes without second chances. In 3x3x3 Blindfolded, Will Cerne took gold across two rounds with a sharp 19.21 single, outpacing Kucala's 21.07 and Pilat's 23.74. Ryan Pilat claimed his own blindfolded victory in 4x4x4 Blindfolded with a 4:24.24 single, leading Brayden Wroten's 4:52.45 and Brendan Bakker's 5:20.06. Wroten captured the top spot in 5x5x5 Blindfolded with an 8:04.68 single, while Kucala solved 30 out of 33 cubes in 59:11 to win 3x3x3 Multi-Blind.

Away from the top steps of the podium, the CubingUSA Rocky Mountain Championship 2023 served as a proving ground for several competitors achieving massive breakthroughs across deep schedules. Michael Shubentsov took on 13 events, posting a personal best of 1:01.85 in Square-1 that shaved 75.3 percent off his previous time, alongside a Clock personal best of 13.75 that was 56.7 percent faster, and making a first ever Megaminx attempt with a time of 2:38.22. Simha Vinnakota entered 10 events, logging a 3.10 personal best in 2x2x2 Cube for a 54.7 percent drop, a 9.58 personal best in Skewb, and a first attempt at 3x3x3 One-Handed at 46.93.

The breakthroughs continued across every tier of the field as participants explored unfamiliar puzzles. Alex Vasquez tackled four events, improving his 3x3x3 One-Handed personal best to 34.16, which was 47.9 percent faster, while making initial competition attempts in Pyraminx at 8.87 and 2x2x2 Cube at 5.55. Issac Goldberg secured a 7.28 personal best in Pyraminx for a 46.2 percent improvement, a 4.13 in Skewb, and a first Megaminx mark of 1:53.77. Kristina Lim logged a 6.29 personal best in Skewb, dropping 40.8 percent, and tried Clock and 2x2x2 Cube for the first time. Cael Patrick Walsh notched a 5.66 personal best in 2x2x2 Cube, an improvement of 38.7 percent, while trying Clock and 4x4x4 Cube for the first time. Stephanie Lopez cut 38.6 percent for a 7.29 personal best in 2x2x2 Cube, and Braedyn Davis tackled 12 events, including debut attempts in 6x6x6 Cube with 2:14.99, 3x3x3 One-Handed with 23.37, and Skewb with 6.04.

The side event podiums highlighted the remaining diversity of the WCA competition schedule in Denver. Miles Walcott won Clock with a 5.99 average ahead of Greyson James at 6.19 and Sula Mareska at 6.20. Simon Kellum earned the Pyraminx title with a 2.16 average, finishing ahead of Jack Bellomy's 2.73 and Johnson's 3.49. Bellomy topped Megaminx with a 40.29 average, Ryan Pilat secured Square-1 with a 6.79 average, and Brayden Wroten captured Skewb with a 2.16 average.

With 51 podium spots distributed exclusively across the host nation field, the CubingUSA Rocky Mountain Championship 2023 delivered a comprehensive showcase of modern speed cubing talent. The multi-tiered round structures allowed the sharpest competitors to emerge through each round of eliminations while providing dozens of personal milestones. As the 2023 season marches forward, this massive cubing competition in the Rocky Mountain region stands out for its fierce bracket battles and breadth of skill.