Xuanyi Geng solved the 3×3×3 Rubik’s Cube in 2.51 seconds at Guangzhou Grand Open 2026, reclaiming the world record and shattering the mark of 2.76 set by Teodor Zajder eight months earlier.
A quarter-second carved from a barrier
The improvement — 0.25 seconds, or just over nine percent — is enormous at a level where records usually creep forward by hundredths. The record returns to Geng, who first held it with a 3.05 at Shenyang Spring 2025 before Zajder’s 2.76 took it away in February.
Geng spotted a double X-cross during his 15-second inspection, solving the cross and two F2L pairs together in under a second.
A 32-move blueprint at full speed
Two more pairs followed in just three moves each, dispatched with almost no hesitation. The sequence set up a ZBLL last layer, letting him solve the entire final stage in one algorithm.
Geng took only a brief recognition pause before the ZBLL — the sole noticeable beat of stillness. The complete reconstruction counted 32 moves, yielding a turning rate of approximately 12.75 turns per second. He used a GAN 16 Maglev MAX cube, built for extreme speed while preserving stability.
Yang Pin Xiu stopped the clock at 2.74 shortly afterwards — a time that would have broken Zajder’s record had Geng’s solve not already lowered it.
Half a second gone in eighteen months
It took nearly five years for the record to move from Yusheng Du’s 3.47 to Max Park’s 3.13. Now the mark has fallen from 3.13 to 2.51 in under two years — a shift of more than half a second where fractions once ruled.
The new record sits 0.52 seconds from the 1.99 threshold, and reconstructions suggest there was still time left on the table.
