Stevenage January 2024

The competitive floor inside The Forum buzzed with focused energy as 185 puzzle solvers took their stations across two full days of high-intensity action. Stopwatches clicked, plastic mechanisms spun in blur-fast sequences, and tables cleared rapidly as competitors worked through 21 total rounds. Held on January 13 and January 14, the Stevenage January 2024 tournament gathered a deep contingent of talent in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom to contest nine official events spanning from lightning-fast sprints to extreme tests of spatial memory.

While standard cubes always command a crowd, the spotlight in Stevenage belonged to the demanding specialty events that require extraordinary technical depth. In Megaminx, Aidan Grainger delivered a masterclass over the twelve-sided puzzle, topping a field of 79 competitors across two rounds with a winning average of 33.10 seconds and a sharp single of 29.28. Sean Moran pushed Grainger close to secure second place with a 34.09 average, while Matt Stephenson earned third with a 50.92 mark, underscoring the formidable mastery required to navigate dodecahedral geometry at speed.

The blindfolded events brought total silence and jaw-dropping precision to the venue. In 3x3x3 Blindfolded, Ben Stokes seized victory among 45 competitors with a blistering average of 23.51 seconds and a 21.75 single. Hari Anirudh took second place with a 25.59 average, while Mengfei Shen claimed third at 32.35. Stokes followed that up with another triumph in the grueling 4x4x4 Blindfolded event, conquering the complex puzzle in a winning single of 2:38.41, besting Mengfei Shen with 3:03.68 and Thomas Patterson with 4:02.76.

Big cubes continued the demonstration of heavy hardware handling throughout the weekend. In the single-round 6x6x6 Cube clash, Daniel Partridge took the crown among 61 entrants, averaging 1:42.96 and posting a best single of 1:28.63. The 5x5x5 Cube tournament featured 85 solvers, where Jake Brown claimed top honors with a sub-minute 57.06 average and a 54.12 single. Dean David followed closely in second place at 58.89, while Partridge completed a versatile weekend by picking up third on the podium with a 1:00.50 mark.

Beyond the podium battles, this WCA competition served as a launchpad for remarkable individual progression among dedicated solvers. Ho Hei Lui produced one of the most stunning leaps of the weekend, trimming their 3x3x3 Cube personal best by 55.6 percent down to 13.57 seconds while making first career attempts at 2x2x2 Cube with a 2.98 and Skewb with a 16.30. Jack Gee sliced 70.3 percent off their previous 2x2x2 Cube personal mark with a 4.71 single alongside a debut Skewb time of 17.98. Aidan Kinsella took on five events at Stevenage January 2024, logging first-ever official attempts in Megaminx at 2:26.16, 4x4x4 Cube at 1:23.74, and 2x2x2 Cube at 4.98.

The breakthrough performances continued through deep rosters across multiple formats. Joshan Hart made a massive leap on Skewb, recording a personal best of 5.57 seconds to outpace their previous mark by 57.3 percent. Preston Mee tackled six events, securing a 5x5x5 Cube debut of 2:51.92, a Megaminx debut of 1:57.98, and a 44.8 percent reduction on their 2x2x2 Cube best at 1.70. Ugham Lindsay entered six events and notched first-ever attempts in the 5x5x5 Cube at 2:17.37 and Megaminx at 1:53.41, while lowering their Skewb best by 23.2 percent to 4.61. Samaran Natarajan achieved an 18th place finish in 5x5x5 Cube with a 1:05.91 personal best, debuted on 6x6x6 Cube in 2:43.79, and cut Megaminx down to 1:18.86. William Casey completed seven events, debuting on the 6x6x6 Cube at 3:58.31 and improving in Megaminx to 2:12.87.

Shorter formats also saw fierce competition across the tables. Noah Calderon-Kamata captured the 2x2x2 Cube title after four intense rounds among 148 entrants, recording a winning average of 1.96 seconds to edge James Alonso at 2.01 and Alan Tan at 2.15. In Skewb, Ariel Benchetrit dominated the final of 112 competitors with a 2.55 average and a 1.79 best single, finishing ahead of Daniel Partridge at 3.93 and Aidan Grainger at 5.10. Across the board, British competitors secured 23 podium spots throughout the tournament, with China earning two and India and Hong Kong taking one each.

In the larger mechanical events, Dean David topped the 4x4x4 Cube bracket among 110 participants, securing victory with an average of 29.86 seconds and a fast 25.97 single. Ben Stokes finished second at 33.24, and Ryan Chan took third at 33.73. The classic Rubik's Cube drew the largest draw of the weekend with 176 entrants in speedcubing action. When the final 3x3 results were tallied, James Alonso stood atop the podium with a 6.51 winning average and 6.00 single, holding off Dean David at 7.86 and Jake Brown at 8.56.

With 21 rounds completed, Stevenage January 2024 proved how vibrant and wide-ranging a premier cubing competition can be. The meeting rewarded versatile talent, from blindfold memory specialists to heavy cube masters, establishing an exhilarating benchmark for the 2024 speed cubing calendar as competitors look forward to their next tests on the circuit.