Rubik's Irish Championship 2026

Ciarán Beahan delivered a masterclass at the SETU Arena by securing five individual victories across the weekend, but the broader story of the tournament was the overwhelming display of depth from Irish solvers on home soil. Across 16 events, domestic competitors claimed an astonishing 40 podium spots out of 48 available positions. The Rubik's Irish Championship 2026 brought 197 competitors together in Waterford, Ireland from July 24 to July 26 for 35 rounds of world-class action, setting a remarkable standard for the sport in the 2026 season.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube contest produced thrilling 3x3 results across four rounds of play featuring 191 entrants. Ciarán Beahan earned the title with a 7.03 winning average and a best single of 6.49, holding off Cillian Hainbach at 7.21 and Prabhav Rajaram Nayak at 7.39 to seal an all-Irish podium. Beahan extended his command across the larger puzzles, winning the 4x4x4 Cube with a 26.14 average, the 5x5x5 Cube with a 41.33 mark, and the 6x6x6 Cube in 1:11.47. In the 7x7x7 Cube, Beahan set a national record average of 1:45.28 and a national record single of 1:40.13 before taking the final with a 1:49.03 average.

The sweep across the podium positions continued in the 4x4x4 Cube, where Cillian Hainbach placed second with 26.94 and Stephanie Rose Martin finished third with 28.02 behind Beahan. Martin also added a third-place finish in the 5x5x5 Cube at 50.58 behind Hainbach at 47.60, but her highlight of the weekend came in the Megaminx. Winning the event with a final average of 26.21, Martin also established a new Irish national record average of 25.71 in the multi-faceted puzzle.

Specialist solving delivered further all-Irish podium sweeps at this major cubing competition. In 3x3x3 One-Handed, CJ Furey earned gold with an 11.35 average, overcoming Martin at 13.44 and Beahan at 13.55. The blindfolded disciplines witnessed extraordinary concentration, where Colm McCarthy claimed the 3x3x3 Blindfolded victory with a 23.67 single, sharing the podium with Adam Bermingham at 40.46 and Kalin Doherty at 40.72. Doherty went on to win the 3x3x3 Multi-Blind event by registering 20 out of 23 cubes solved in 54:44, leading James McCambridge and Finn Molloy in another clean podium sweep for Ireland.

Across the tournament floor, several competitors took significant strides by entering new categories and reducing their previous benchmarks by massive margins. Alan Castellano Lösken chopped an incredible 61.3 percent off his previous best Skewb single to record a 6.10, while David O'Brien registered a Pyraminx personal best of 6.97 to finish 56.2 percent faster than his prior record alongside making first attempts in Skewb and 3x3x3 One-Handed. Sean Doran tackled nine events, posting a Skewb personal best of 6.82 that was 45.8 percent faster, a 3x3x3 One-Handed personal best of 27.41, and completing his first ever attempt in Megaminx. Nate Thomason registered his first tries in Skewb and Pyraminx while lowering his Square-1 best to 33.77, an improvement of 44.9 percent.

The ambitious multi-event schedules kept solving tables busy as Thomas Tierney entered 12 events, taking 43.4 percent off his 2x2x2 Cube single to hit 2.75 alongside a 27.4 percent drop in his 7x7x7 Cube best to 6:16.82. Daniel O'Reilly improved his Pyraminx single by 40.4 percent to 8.89 and logged initial official attempts in 4x4x4 Cube and 3x3x3 One-Handed. Jessica Keeshan took on four events, setting an 8.05 Pyraminx best that was 33.8 percent faster while recording first tries in 2x2x2 Cube and Skewb. Conor Denis Fleming took on 10 events, successfully logging his first official attempts in 5x5x5 Cube, Megaminx, and 3x3x3 One-Handed.

The national record board saw constant updates throughout the speedcubing schedule. Jack Corr set Irish national records in Clock with a 2.47 single and a 2.88 average on his way to event victory, while Namuun Natsagdorj set Mongolian national records in the same event with a 2.66 single and a 3.53 average. In the 5x5x5 Blindfolded discipline, winner Adam Bermingham topped the round with a 9:27.73 single, while Kalin Doherty set an Irish national record average of 12:22.00. McCarthy secured his second gold in 4x4x4 Blindfolded with a 2:50.30 single, leading Doherty and Malaysia's Nevins Chan Pak Hoong.

International competitors also earned notable honours at the Rubik's Irish Championship 2026, where Argentina's Luca Dalton captured the 2x2x2 Cube crown with a 1.57 average ahead of Doherty and Daniel Hamilton. In the remaining events, Oisín Olwill topped Pyraminx in 2.26, Declan Mangan-Lamb took Skewb in 3.09, and Dorian Chan won Square-1 with an 8.28 average. As this memorable WCA competition concluded at SETU Arena, the standard of classic Rubik's Cube solving and speed cubing across all 16 disciplines demonstrated a vibrant and rapidly advancing sporting landscape.