A nine-year-old from Gdańsk has just redrawn the limits of human speed at least as far as the Rubik’s Cube is concerned. Teodor Zajder, competing at GLS Big Cubes Gdańsk 2026, recorded a 2.76-second solve in the 3x3x3 “single” event, becoming the first person ever to complete the classic cube in under three seconds in an official competition.

For years, the three-second barrier has been the sport’s psychological finish line whispered about in forums, chased in practice sessions, and occasionally teased in training videos. But doing it on stage, under judgment and scrutiny, is a different order of achievement. Zajder’s time doesn’t just break the record; it cleaves a new era into the sport’s timeline.

The previous benchmark stood at 3.05 seconds, set by China’s Xuanyi Geng at Shenyang Spring 2025. Guinness World Records also lists 3.05 seconds as the fastest 3x3x3 solve (as of its current published entry), underlining just how significant a 2.76 result isand how quickly official record books can be overtaken by events on the competition floor.

Yet Zajder’s record-breaking moment was not the result of a flawless run of attempts. Far from it. According to the competition results, his five solves tell a story familiar to anyone who has ever chased a personal best: inconsistency, pressure, and then suddenly perfection. His other times in the round were 4.99, 5.36, 5.76 and 5.34 seconds. The 2.76 arrived on attempt number four, like lightning striking the same place only after the storm has rolled through.

Speedcubing may look like a simple parlour trick to the uninitiated, but at the elite level it is a high-precision discipline built on pattern recognition, finger dexterity and calm execution under the clock. The 3x3x3 cube itself, the best-known Rubik’s Cube format, is the sport’s flagship event, and the one where breakthroughs carry the loudest echo.

What makes Zajder’s feat even more striking is that it sits within a wider portfolio of competitive ability. His World Cube Association profile shows he competes across multiple events beyond the standard cube, with personal records recorded in categories such as 2x2x2, 4x4x4 and 5x5x5, as well as specialist disciplines including one-handed solving, blindfold solving and “fewest moves”. 

In other words, this is not a one-off party piece; it’s the output of a young competitor already fluent in the sport’s breadth.

For Poland, the moment is doubly symbolic. Speedcubing is a global, youth-driven sport, dominated by a fast-moving international scene where records can fall anywhere from Kuala Lumpur to Shenyang. Now Gdańsk joins that list not simply as a host city, but as the place where the three-second line finally gave way.

Photo: World Cube Association

Tomasz Modrzejewski