Saint John's Warm Up 2025

Inside the halls of Saint John's High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, USA, competitors gathered on June 7, 2025, for a day defined by pure concentration and spatial memory. While blindfolded solving stands as the ultimate test of pure recall and total mental discipline in the wider sport, every speedcubing discipline requires an extraordinary degree of focus and foresight. Across the tables, solvers tracked permutations in a split second, executing planned solutions with complete certainty before the timer stopped.

The 2025 edition of Saint John's Warm Up 2025 brought together an active field of 82 competitors tackling 5 events across 12 fast-moving rounds. Speed cubing demands sustained intensity through early qualifiers and championship finals alike, and this cubing competition proved to be a masterclass in pacing across both classic puzzles and specialty disciplines.

Curtis Chai emerged as one of the standout performers of the day, claiming two championship titles across the smaller puzzles. In the 3x3x3 Cube, which featured a packed field of 81 competitors over 3 rounds, Chai secured victory with a 7.14 winning average and delivered the best single time of the event at 6.30. The final 3x3 results came down to thin margins, as Krish Shah-Nathwani finished as runner-up with a 7.17 average, followed closely by Darren Saito in third place at 7.24.

Chai doubled his haul in the 2x2x2 Cube, outpacing 78 entrants across 2 rounds to take the top step of the podium. His winning average of 1.54 was anchored by a blistering 1.26 single solve. Chris Chi earned the second-place spot with an average of 1.83, while Krish Shah-Nathwani collected another podium finish by taking third place with a 1.91 average.

Beyond the podium battles, the floor of the WCA competition was filled with personal milestones and breakthrough attempts across every division. Ian Chan produced one of the sharpest improvements of the meet, trimming their 2x2x2 Cube mark down to 3.91, an impressive 54.7 percent faster than their prior standard of 8.64, alongside a 24.94 personal best in the 3x3x3 Cube. Noah Hould cut their 2x2x2 Cube best by 53.7 percent down to 5.40 from 11.66, while also taking on their first official attempts in both Pyraminx with a 12.51 and 3x3x3 One-Handed with a 43.79. Kian Peterson reduced their 2x2x2 Cube single by 53.9 percent to 6.08, improved their Pyraminx time to 7.29, and registered their first 4x4x4 Cube attempt at 1:56.06.

The progress continued across a busy slate of events for several rising competitors. Nicholas Baffaro entered 5 events, cutting their 2x2x2 Cube personal best by 50.1 percent to 3.93 from 7.88 while recording debut times of 53.10 in 3x3x3 One-Handed and 2:23.60 in the 4x4x4 Cube. Isaac Peterson lowered their 2x2x2 Cube mark by 48.3 percent to 4.94 and their 3x3x3 One-Handed mark by 22.9 percent to 42.94, while also logging a 1:36.38 in their 4x4x4 Cube debut. Teddy Dobecki achieved a 42.9 percent drop to 5.04 in the 2x2x2 Cube and posted a 1:58.19 in their 4x4x4 Cube debut. Aarush Patel took on 5 events and completed first-ever official attempts in 3x3x3 One-Handed at 57.61, Pyraminx at 16.00, and 4x4x4 Cube at 1:59.32, while Jason Wickman tackled their very first official tournament across 5 disciplines, clocking 34.20 in one-handed, 6.46 on Pyraminx, and 56.55 on the 4x4x4.

Darren Saito matched Chai with a double-gold performance of their own, leading the way in both big cubes and technical disciplines. In the 4x4x4 Cube, Saito topped a field of 56 solvers with a winning average of 29.94 and a best single of 28.31. Curtis Chai took second place with a 30.78 average, narrowly edging Jeffrey Li, who took third with an average of 30.83.

Saito returned to the top in the 3x3x3 One-Handed event, solving the Rubik's Cube with a single hand to take victory over 56 competitors in 3 rounds. Saito posted a winning average of 11.28 and the round's best single solve at 8.56. Parker Trager earned second place with an 11.75 average, while Jaylen Myles took third with an average of 11.97.

The Pyraminx title went to Steven Wintringham, who led 65 competitors across 2 rounds of competition. Wintringham captured first place with an average of 2.25 and a best single time of 2.13. Parker Trager secured second place with an average of 2.51, while Krish Shah-Nathwani took third place on the podium with an average of 2.79.

By the conclusion of Saint John's Warm Up 2025, competitors had traded fast turnarounds and hard-earned breakthroughs in Shrewsbury. With every podium spot claimed by United States competitors across all five events, the gathering showcased the high level of precision and focus that defines modern competitive solving as the season rolls forward.