A maths student has become the fastest Brit to solve a Rubik’s cube after managing to complete the puzzle – in just 6.54 SECONDS.
Light-fingered Ben Whitmore, 21, first picked up the 1980s brain teaser when he was just six years old, and has become obsessed with setting personal records ever since.
Ben, who studies at the University of Leicester, is believed to hold the British record with his incredible time of under seven seconds.
He has been taking part in competitions for eight years and over the bank holiday weekend hosted his own contest in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.
Ben, of Newcastle, said: “I’ve been able to solve a Rubik’s Cube since 2003, when I was just a little kid.
“It was a momentous moment.
“My first official competition was in 2009. As soon as you break your record, you want to keep improving.
“I love the challenge.
“I started competing a while ago, and it’s easy to see how much you are improving.
“In a competition there are 18 different events and that could be different shapes and sizes.
“There are a lot of people playing it now. My mum works at the school and she said that she has seen lots of children bringing them in recently.”
Ben put on his own competition in his hometown on Sunday (16/4) with 69 participants coming from Australia, America, Malaysia and Singapore.
Each maths-whizz was given five attempts to solve the tricky puzzle, with their best and worst times being removed and an average being taken from the remaining three to determine a winner.
Ben added: “In everyday life it’s pretty rare to find someone who can solve a Rubik’s Cube, so having a whole bunch of people together like this is interesting.
“I started competing a while ago, and it’s easy to see how much you are improving.
“In a competition there are 18 different events, and that could be different shapes and sizes.
“There are a lot of people playing it now.”
Ben finished second in the latest event with an average of 10.03 seconds, as Keaton Ellis, 19, from Maryland, US, won with an average of 8.21 seconds.
Keaton, who studies a double major in maths and economics at the University of Maryland, said: “I’m on spring break right now, so I wanted to come to a couple of competitions.
“I have a bunch of friends here in the UK, which is why I wanted to come here to compete.
“Ben is a pretty cool guy.
“Most of the people I meet at competitions I have usually met through online forums and Facebook groups.
“I love the community.
“I’m American, but I’ve lived in Hungary and competed there. I’ve come to the UK and competed here and pretty much everywhere I go I can find people who solve cubes and make friends.”
* The current Rubik’s Cube speed-solving record is held by American Feliks Zemdegs, 20, who set a storming 4.73 second time in Australia in December last year.
