Twist 'n Turn Tallinn 2024

A blistering 34.56-second average in the 4x4x4 Cube final set the tone for a commanding weekend by Remo Pihel at Twist 'n Turn Tallinn 2024. Staged at the Tallinn Secondary School of Science across May 18 and 19, the gathering brought together 40 competitors for 21 rounds of top-tier speedcubing action. Pihel emerged as the dominant force across the two-day meeting, securing podium spots across five different disciplines and lifting the championship trophy in three of them in Tallinn, Estonia.

The 2024 cubing competition schedule featured nine distinct events, but few athletes managed to match Pihel's breadth of execution. Alongside his 4x4x4 Cube triumph, where he outpaced Finland's Antto Pitkänen (36.21) and Italy's Simone Cantarelli (37.77), Pihel also claimed top honours in Pyraminx with a winning average of 2.54 seconds. To cap off his multi-discipline showcase, he took victory in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event, conquering the memory-intensive challenge with a single solve of 1:44.12 to lead Matteo Provasi and Oliver Pällo.

The marquee 3x3x3 Cube contest delivered the weekend's sharpest 3x3 results, culminating in a three-round battle among 39 competitors. Kaur Tuule proved unbeatable in the final, averaging a stellar 7.68 seconds and locking in the round's best single solve of 6.02 seconds to take first place. Pihel maintained his omnipresence at the front of the pack by claiming the silver medal on an 8.64 average, edging out Latvia's Roberts Dreijers, who matched the 8.64 average but settled for third position on the podium.

Roberts Dreijers made his own substantial mark on the WCA competition by capturing two titles of his own. In the rapid 2x2x2 Cube division, Dreijers topped a 38-person field with a sub-two-second winning average of 1.98 seconds, leading Finnish finalist Niko Ronkainen and Pihel. Dreijers returned to the top step of the podium in Square-1, registering a decisive winning average of 12.09 seconds to defeat Pitkänen and Estonia's Maksim Zemtšihhin.

The rotating puzzle events also brought out exceptional talent across both days of speed cubing. Oliver Pällo delivered a commanding performance in Clock, securing first place with an average of 4.20 seconds ahead of Pitkänen and Sofia Veedler. Pällo doubled his title tally in Megaminx, navigating the dodecahedral challenge to win with an average of 51.24 seconds, finishing ahead of Tuule and Pihel. In Skewb, Finland's Antto Pitkänen earned his victory with a 3.55 average, holding off Pihel and Ronkainen in the final round.

Beyond the championship podiums, several competitors achieved remarkable milestones across their individual programmes. Ilja Krehov demonstrated extraordinary progress by cutting his Pyraminx personal best to 2.18 seconds, an improvement of 60.9 percent over his previous mark, while also recording a 24.2 percent drop in Skewb down to 7.75 seconds. Oliver Jakob Veevo tackled eight different events, lowering his 4x4x4 Cube best by 41.6 percent to 1:13.87 and his Clock single by 35.9 percent to 12.28 seconds. Aaron Fabritius made huge strides by improving his Pyraminx single by 57.3 percent to 2.10 seconds and his 2x2x2 Cube mark by 37.3 percent to 1.88 seconds, while Pjotr Burtsev dropped his 2x2x2 Cube best by 49.6 percent to 7.68 seconds.

Other athletes embraced fresh challenges across the tournament schedule by registering their first competitive attempts in several disciplines. Hans Saar took on five events and posted debut marks of 1:00.53 in 4x4x4 Cube, 4.63 in Skewb, and 7.24 in Pyraminx. Ken-Erik Aus posted a first-ever blindfolded single of 5:43.25 alongside initial attempts in 4x4x4 Cube and Skewb. Debutant Sergei Ogoltsov completed his first WCA tournament by tackling four events, including maiden marks of 10.96 in Skewb, 7.03 in 2x2x2 Cube, and 3:22.07 in Megaminx, while Amir Dibou made his Rubik's Cube debut with an initial single of 1:49.14.

By the conclusion of Twist 'n Turn Tallinn 2024, host nation Estonia had secured 14 podium positions across the nine disciplines, with Finland collecting seven, Latvia four, and Italy two. The diverse slate of events tested every facet of mechanical puzzle solving, from high-speed turning to deep spatial memory. With memorable performances across every round, the competition highlighted both established champions and emerging contenders making notable progress on the regional stage.