Paris Rubik’s Cube World Championship to be Biggest Ever Submitted by: Rubik’s Cube Wednesday, 14 June 2017 The Rubik’s Cube World Championship (http://www.rubiksworldparis2017.com/en/home/), which sees competitors battle to solve the iconic cube (https://www.rubiks.com/) as quickly as possible, is being staged in France for the first time from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 July 2017 and will see a record number of ‘speedcubers’ in action. Australian Feliks Zemdegs will defend the world title for the Rubik’s Cube, which he has held since winning in 2013 with an average solve time of 8.18 seconds and defended in 2015 with an average solve time of 7.56 seconds. Although the championship is traditionally aimed at individual competitors, this year the inaugural Nations Cup will see teams of three from 45 countries go head-to-head for the first time. Due to the excitement around the new Nations Cup format, it is anticipated that Ern Rubik, the legendary Hungarian creator of the iconic Rubik’s Cube, will be in attendance at the event. A professor of architecture from Budapest, he created the cube in 1974 to encourage his students to think about spatial relationships. Since its international launch in 1980, an estimated 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold, making it the world’s most popular toy. The Rubik’s Cube World Championship will take place at Les Docks de Paris, France, and will welcome 1,100 competitors from 69 countries, competing in eighteen individual competition classes, including blindfolded solving, solving with feet and tackling different puzzles. The first championship took place in 1982. Australian Feliks Zemdegs holds the world record for the fastest solve of the Rubik’s Cube in an eye-watering 4.73 seconds in Melbourne in December 2016, although the Netherlands’ Mats Valk is fractionally behind with a best solve of 4.74 seconds in Indonesia in November 2016. However, the competition’s rules mean that entrants solve the Rubik’s Cube five times. The fastest and slowest attempts are removed and an average time is taken so the competitor with the fastest single solve does not always win. Again, Feliks Zemdegs held the world record for the best average solve time of 6.45 until April this year, when Max Park of the USA set an average solve time of 6.39 seconds. With just eight tenths of a second between the world’s top ten speedcubers – all of whom will be in action in Paris – the Rubik’s Cube title promises to be hotly contested. Below is a list of the world’s top ten speedcubers and their best average solve times: 1Max ParkUSA6.39 2Feliks ZemdegsAustralia6.45 3Sebastian WeyerGermany6.81 Page 1 4Mats ValkNetherlands6.83 5Seung Hyuk NahmKorea6.86 6Lucas EtterUSA6.89 7Philipp WeyerGermany7.10 7Bill WangCanada7.10 9Patrick PonceUSA7.11 10Micha PleskowiczPoland7.13 There are 18 individual events at the 2017 Rubik’s Cube World Championship, including: •2x2 Rubik’s Cube •3x3 Rubik’s Cube •4x4 Rubik’s Cube •5x5 Rubik’s Cube •One-handed 3x3 Rubik’s Cube •Blindfolded 3x3 Rubik’s Cube •3x3 Rubik’s Cube (fewest moves) •3x3 Rubik’s Cube with feet •Rubik’s Clock •4x4 Rubik’s Cube blindfolded •5x5 Rubik’s Cube blindfolded •3x3 Rubik’s Cube multiple blindfolded Chrisi Trussell of London-based Rubik’s Brand Ltd, which licences the Rubik’s Cube to distributors around the world, said, “The Rubik’s Cube World Championship in Paris is set to be by far the biggest speedcubing competition the world has seen, with over twice as many competitors as the previous World Championship. “Because of the competitive nature of the field, there is bound to be an incredible sense of tension. Feliks Zemdegs is difficult to beat but it’s amazing to see so many keen cubers in action from all corners of the globe. Ultimately, this is a social event and it’s always energising to see the support competitors give each other. “The introduction of the new Nations Cup, which allows countries to compete against each other, adds a layer of intrigue to the championship.” To find out more about Rubik’s Cube, visit the website at https://www.rubiks.com/, Twitter feed @RubiksOnline (https://twitter.com/rubiksonline) or official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Rubiksonline). Rubik’s Cube single solve world record (Feliks Zemdegs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R07JiT0PlcE WHAT: Rubik’s Cube World Championship WHERE: Les Docks de Paris, 50 avenue du President Wilson, 93200 La Plaine Saint-Denis, Paris, France WHEN: Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 July 2017 Page 2 ENDS Images and B-roll from the 2015 Rubik’s Cube World Championship are available on request. We would be delighted to organise interviews with Chrisi Trussell, spokeswoman for Rubik’s Brand Ltd, and members of the speedcubing community where available. Images and B-roll from the 2017 Rubik’s Cube World Championship will be available to journalists when the event is under way. Media information provided by Famous Publicity. For more information please contact George Murdoch on 03333 442 341 or [email protected] , Adam Betteridge on 03333 442 341 or [email protected] or Tina Fotherby on 03333 442 341 or [email protected]. Page 3 Distributed via Press Release Wire (https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/) on behalf of Rubik’s Cube Copyright © 1999-2021 ResponseSource, The Johnson Building, 79 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8AW, UK e: [email protected] t: 020 3426 4051 f: 0345 370 7776 w: https://www.responsesource.com.