A six-year-old competitor from Chengdu, China, has twice broken the women's world record for the fastest average time solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube, according to results certified by the World Cube Association, speedcubing's governing body.
Lian Yunzhi first set the mark at the Wuhan Crimson Autumn 2026 competition on Sept. 13 with an average of 4.52 seconds across five solves, then lowered it again three days later at the Guangzhou GraDUAL 3x3 IV competition, averaging 4.27 seconds, according to local television coverage of the event. She is the first woman to average below 4.5 seconds in the discipline.
The World Cube Association times competitors using a specialized timing mat and calculates the official "average" by dropping each solver's fastest and slowest times from five attempts and averaging the remaining three, a format designed to reward consistency over a single lucky solve.
Competitive speedcubing has expanded rapidly in participation in China over the past decade, with dedicated training academies and youth leagues producing a wave of young record-setters. The sport's elite single-solve world record, held separately from the average record, currently stands at 2.76 seconds, set by Poland's Teodor Zajder in late September.
Video of Lian's solves, performed with the same two-handed grip and layer-by-layer method taught to most competitive cubers, circulated widely on social media after the Guangzhou event, with commentators noting her solve pace rivals that of adult national-team competitors, as international coverage of the feat noted. Her family has not said whether she will compete internationally.
The Rubik's Cube, invented in 1974, has sustained a worldwide competitive circuit for more than four decades, with the World Cube Association now sanctioning thousands of events annually across dozens of countries and age divisions, from preschool-age prodigies to grandmasters in their eighties.
Organizers of the two competitions said both events drew hundreds of entrants across age and skill divisions, underscoring how deep the sport's talent pool has become even outside its marquee adult categories.
