SINGAPORE: By the time you finish reading this sentence, Max Park would have solved a Rubik’s Cube.
The speedcubing legend broke the record for the fastest time to solve a 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube on Sunday (Jun 11) at the Pride in Long Beach 2023 event in the US.
According to the Guinness World Records, the 21-year-old American solved the cube in 3.13 seconds, shaving 0.34 seconds off the previous record set by China’s Yusheng Du in 2018.
Before this, Park’s fastest single solve was 3.63 seconds.
“The atmosphere was electric. Everybody knew that he broke the record, and I think partially everybody was in shock.” Park’s father told the Guinness World Records in an interview posted on Thursday.
“The cubing world has been nothing short of ecstatic. Everybody was really waiting to see who was going to break that record … When Max did it, I think everybody was very happy for him.”
Park’s father added that the 3x3x3 record was “like the creme de la creme” of cubing, adding that when the record gets broken, “the whole cubing community knows”.
CUBING “A GOOD THERAPY”
Park is diagnosed with autism and according to his parents, cubing has been “a good therapy” for him.
“There was a time when Max couldn’t even open water bottles, but he showed interest in solving Rubik’s Cubes,” they added.
Park’s parents began to understand the benefits of using cubing as a kind of therapy, and they used competitions as a means of teaching him social cues such as pointing, standing in line and waiting his turn, reported The Guardian.
SPEEDCUBING RECORDS
Park, who is an official ambassador for Rubik’s, holds “nearly all” of the speedcubing records, according to the Guinness World Records.
“He holds both the single solve and average solve world records for the 4x4x4 cube, 5x5x5 cube, 6x6x6 cube, and 7x7x7 cube,” said the website.
When Park set the 7x7x7 single record with a time of 1 minute 40 seconds, cubing veteran Erik Akkersdijk described it as the most impressive thing he’d ever seen.
On his new record, Park’s father said a lot of his fans from “The Speed Cubers”, a 2020 Netflix documentary Park had appeared in, reached out and were very happy for him. “A few people said they even cried.”
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