Six-year-old Chinese girl sets new Rubik's Cube world record with average time under 4.5 seconds

1 hour ago 1

By OLIVIA ALLHUSEN, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER

Published: 12:16 BST, 22 September 2026 | Updated: 12:36 BST, 22 September 2026

A six-year-old Chinese girl has set a new women's world record for solving a Rubik's Cube.

Lian Yunzhi broke the record for the 3x3x3 puzzle twice in just three days during competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou.

The youngster completed five solves with an average time of 4.52 seconds before lowering it again to an astonishing 4.27 seconds.

The achievement makes her the only female cuber in the world to record an average time below 4.5 seconds. 

Footage shows Yunzhi rapidly twisting the puzzle before proudly holding up her trophy.

Another clip captures her solving the cube at remarkable speed while surrounded by her schoolmates. 

Yunzhi, from Chengdu in Sichuan province, has learned more than 1,300 algorithms and spent between two and three hours practising each day over the past year. 

She was also filmed practising at home with her parents, who showed Red Star News a shelf lined with her trophies.

Her mother, Lin Yangxi, said Yunzhi was introduced to the Rubik's Cube through an extracurricular class alongside dance and music lessons.

A six-year-old Chinese girl has set a new women's world record for solving a Rubik's Cube

Lian Yunzhi broke the record for the 3x3x3 puzzle twice in just three days during competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou

Footage shows Yunzhi rapidly twisting the puzzle before proudly holding up her trophy

Yunzhi, from Chengdu in Sichuan province, has learned more than 1,300 algorithms and spent between two and three hours practising each day over the past year

According to the World Cube Association, the six-year-old has competed in 33 events across China and completed 569 official solves. 

Her fastest single time for a 3x3x3 cube is 3.54 seconds, while her personal best for a 2x2x2 cube is 2.15 seconds. 

Ms Lin said she gradually came to view cubing as an excellent way of developing a child's overall abilities.

She said: 'Solving a Rubik's Cube improves focus, memory, logical thinking, spatial awareness, and helps develop a healthy mindset toward winning and losing.

'It's not just about blindly memorising formulas, but using logical reasoning to find optimal solutions.'

The previous record holder was Qixian Cao, who achieved an average time of 5.97 seconds in 2023 when she was six after first learning to solve the cube at the age of three.

Now nine, Qixian later recorded a 4.98-second average at the Start of Summer Beijing 2026 competition in May, placing her seventh in the world overall, according to Speedcuber's Digest.

Read Entire Article
Progleton News @2023