Slow Down Adelaide 2024

A total of 29 competitors gathered at Brocas House on September 21, 2024, for a packed day of endurance and memory challenges in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The schedule for Slow Down Adelaide 2024 stepped away from standard sprint solving to feature eight demanding events spanning nine rounds of intense focus. Enthusiasts following Rubik's Cube disciplines saw a massive turnout across big cubes and blindfolded brackets, where competitors pushed their capabilities across long-format disciplines rarely staged all at once.

Firstian Fushada emerged as the defining force of the tournament, capturing five event titles and displaying remarkable versatility across the board. In the 5x5x5 Cube, Fushada posted a winning average of 47.49 and a best single of 43.48, well clear of Australia's Seth Ferry at 1:01.43 and Hong Kong's Jeffers Chan at 1:16.92. The standard of speedcubing at the top of the standings remained relentless as the puzzles grew in size, setting a high bar across the Adelaide venue throughout the single-day schedule.

Fushada's dominance expanded as the big cubes progressed to six and seven layers. In the 6x6x6 Cube, Fushada sealed first place with a 1:31.25 average, outlasting Jeffers Chan who took second in 2:14.63 and Seth Ferry who secured third in 2:18.10. Moving directly into the 7x7x7 Cube, Fushada again took the top step with an average of 2:14.56, while Chan earned runner-up honours in 3:52.10 and China's Xunyi Zhao finished third with 4:05.79. Fushada also conquered the Megaminx final, winning with an average of 36.99 over Ferry's 54.67 and Aston Culf's 1:17.54.

Beyond the sighted events, Slow Down Adelaide 2024 tested raw memory across multiple blindfolded categories. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, which ran for two rounds, Fushada triumphed with a winning average of 35.30 and a best single of 27.35, besting Australia's Felix Williams whose 37.42 average secured second place. Australia's Carlo Malagar completed the podium with a 53.07 average. Outside of the traditional format, fans checking for 3x3 results found that memorisation disciplines delivered some of the day's sharpest contested margins.

The specialised blindfolded disciplines demanded immense mental stamina. In 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, Carlo Malagar captured victory for Australia by successfully resolving 16 out of 21 cubes in 58:03, outperforming Yinhao Ding with an 8/8 result in 49:59 and Jeremy Crouther with 7/8 in 52:51. Crouther later won the 4x4x4 Blindfolded event with a 12:11.00 single over Ding's 12:16.00 and Gerard McGinley's 12:50.00. In 5x5x5 Blindfolded, Felix Williams took the gold with a time of 5:55.68, while Fushada collected second place with a single of 16:13.00.

Behind the headline wins, the tournament yielded huge milestones and personal triumphs that highlighted the depth of the field. Kittatam Saisaard delivered an enormous 44.3 percent improvement on their 5x5x5 Cube personal best with a time of 2:45.73, and also completed their first ever attempt at the 7x7x7 Cube in 22:03.00. Wilson Ha carved 31.6 percent off their previous Megaminx best to finish in 1:50.10, claiming 14th place. Vince Alvino took on the 5x5x5 Cube and improved their personal best by 25 percent down to 2:28.40, finishing 15th overall.

Marina Bai continued the run of personal landmarks, setting a new Megaminx personal best of 1:43.59, an improvement of 23.5 percent. Aaron Mi entered five events at the competition, achieving a 19 percent improvement on their Megaminx best to clock 1:07.70 for a fourth-place finish, alongside personal bests in 5x5x5 Cube of 1:21.21 and 6x6x6 Cube of 3:09.00. Gus Friend tackled five events, recording their first ever attempt at 6x6x6 Cube in 4:41.35 and dropping their 7x7x7 Cube best by 18.1 percent to 8:15.75. Riley Brooks entered three events, logging a first ever 7x7x7 Cube solve in 10:46.00 and a 5x5x5 Cube best of 2:37.04, while Samuel Chambers recorded a first ever 6x6x6 Cube result of 6:51.79.

With 13 podium places secured by Australian competitors alongside six for Indonesia, three for Hong Kong, and one for China, the cubing competition proved to be a vibrant display of regional talent. Organised as an official WCA competition, Slow Down Adelaide 2024 showed the enduring appeal of technical speed cubing challenges. The day concluded with solvers already looking forward to the next season of competitive action across the Australian circuit.