Skewb Madness Uruguay 2024

The competition floor inside Grupo Altavista in Montevideo, Uruguay buzzed with intense concentration and rapid turning as twenty-nine competitors gathered for a packed day of speedcubing. Stacks of puzzles lined the warm-up stations while judges stood ready with stopwatches and scorecards. The December 15, 2024 gathering brought local solvers and visiting talent together across eight events and eleven rounds. From the classic Rubik's Cube to specialized twisters, the venue provided the stage for a showcase of sharp reflexes and technical mastery.

Leading the charge for the local contingent was Bruno Lezama, who put on a commanding performance across multiple disciplines. In the event giving the tournament its name, Skewb Madness Uruguay 2024, Lezama navigated three full rounds of Skewb competition to claim the gold medal with an average of 2.74 seconds, highlighted by a blistering single solve of 1.57. Santiago Cabral took second place with a 5.19 average, while Mateo de León rounded out an all-Uruguay podium in third place at 5.85 seconds.

Lezama was far from finished after securing the Skewb title. At the 2x2x2 Cube tables, he delivered another first-place finish with a 2.64 winning average, anchored by a 1.78 best single. Venezuela's Felipe Santamaría Ruiz secured second place averaging 3.30, while Víctor Gálvez finished third with a 3.50 average. Lezama added to his remarkable medal haul by earning runner-up podium spots in 5x5x5 Cube, 6x6x6 Cube, Megaminx, and 3x3x3 Blindfolded, cementing his status as the standout home performer across the single-day schedule.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube event drew the largest field with twenty-five competitors tackling two rounds of action. Irene Pinto captured the gold medal, posting a 9.67 winning average alongside a tournament-best single solve of 7.20 seconds. Víctor Gálvez pushed hard to claim the second step on the podium with a 10.95 average, while Felipe Santamaría Ruiz took third at 11.10. The 3x3 results underlined Pinto's consistency across the final round as she secured the top spot on the podium for Uruguay.

Big-cube solving belonged entirely to Víctor Gálvez, who authored a pair of impressive victories. In the 5x5x5 Cube, Gálvez captured first place with an average of 1:07.52 and a top single of 1:03.22, finishing ahead of Lezama's 1:12.78 and Hugo Riera Ricciardelli's 1:34.78. Gálvez followed up in 6x6x6 Cube by taking the gold with an average of 2:08.03 and a best solve of 1:55.40, outpacing Lezama at 2:16.49 and Venezuela's Xabier Monsalve at 3:05.77. Gálvez also claimed a third-place finish in Clock.

Behind the top podium spots, several competitors delivered massive leaps forward in their personal marks. Dante Martinez Renovales posted a huge 60.7 percent improvement on his Skewb personal best with a time of 13.23 seconds, while also lowering his 2x2x2 mark to 3.68 and his 3x3x3 time to 21.15. Lautaro Andres Martinez Penen made his first career attempt at 5x5x5 Cube, clocking 2:57.48, and achieved a 42.7 percent improvement on his 2x2x2 single at 3.09 seconds. Martín Matías Kaztman Cao trimmed his Clock best by 43.3 percent down to 19.32 seconds. Cristian Marquicio also dropped significant time, improving his Skewb mark by 32.7 percent to 7.46 seconds.

Other solvers expanded their repertoire with debut appearances in new categories at the cubing competition. Leandro Estevez tackled Skewb for the first time in competition with a single of 7.22 seconds, finishing eighth overall while setting a 3x3x3 personal best of 10.75 seconds. Felipe Mai logged an 8.03 in his first Skewb attempt and cut his 2x2x2 mark by 37 percent to 7.78 seconds. Santiago Agustín Gomez Duarte recorded a 12.38 in his first Skewb attempt alongside a personal best 6.89 single in 3x3x3. Meanwhile, Matias Leandro Alonso Acuña entered his first career WCA competition, taking on four events and posting debut marks of 8.04 in 2x2x2 and 15.42 in 3x3x3.

Specialist events also delivered tense finishes before the day concluded. Santiago Cabral captured the Clock title with an average of 4.09 seconds and a single of 3.28, ahead of Mateo de León at 5.19 and Víctor Gálvez at 7.33. In Megaminx, Brian Hambeck took first place with a 44.71 average, besting Lezama's 49.76. Felipe Santamaría Ruiz secured the 3x3x3 Blindfolded title for Venezuela with a single solve of 1:02.31. Across the entire program, host competitors captured twenty podium positions.

The successful execution of Skewb Madness Uruguay 2024 demonstrated the strength of the speed cubing community in South America as the 2024 calendar drew to a close. With multi-event mastery, decisive single solves, and dozens of personal milestones achieved on the tables at Grupo Altavista, the gathering provided an energetic closing chapter for the region's competitive season.