The Weekend Preview: July 31 - August 2, 2026
Highlighting competitions from around the world of speedcubing.
British Columbia will crown four provincial champions one week before the main championship, Egypt brings its national competition back to Giza, and Zhen Chen gets another shot at OH only seven days after his historic 6.99.
Welcome back to the Speedcuber’s Digest Weekend Preview, where we look ahead at the potential storylines going into the weekend.
BC Championship Begins With the Quiet Events
BC Quiet Championship 2026 takes place August 1 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, one week before the main BC Championship runs August 7-9.
Although it is listed as a separate WCA competition, BC Quiet serves as the provincial championship for four events not included in the main competition: Fewest Moves, 4x4 Blindfolded, 5x5 Blindfolded, and 3x3 Multi-Blind. The highest-placing British Columbia resident in each event will be recognized as the 2026 BC champion.
That makes Saturday the opening stage of a two-week championship. The four longer specialist events will be decided first, while 3x3 Blindfolded remains part of the main competition the following weekend.
The contrast between the two competitions will be significant. BC Quiet has a limit of 25 competitors and only one or two groups per round. The main championship has a 230-person limit and will feature the regular speedsolving events inside a hotel ballroom.
The setting may be smaller, but the titles carry the same weight. By the time the main championship begins, British Columbia will already have crowned four of its 2026 champions.
Egypt Holds Its First National Championship Since 2019
Egypt National 2026 takes place July 31 through August 1 at Eastern Company Sports Club in Giza.
The competition marks the return of Egypt’s national championship after a seven-year absence. At Egyptian Championship 2019, France’s Clément Cherblanc won 3x3 overall with a 10.72 average, while Mohannad Mahmoud Fathy finished second at 11.42 and claimed the national title as the highest-placing Egyptian.
Fathy does not appear on this year’s psych sheet, guaranteeing a new Egyptian 3x3 champion.
Adam Tiro of Palestine enters as the top overall seed with a 7.90 average. Mohammad Ahmad Abu Hussein, also representing Palestine, follows at 9.25, with Russia’s Mikhail Nikitin at 9.31.
Eyad Moataz Osama Mohamed Eyad leads the Egyptian title race with a 9.38 average. Karim Mohamed Saeed follows at 10.17, with Nour Marwan Mostafa at 10.44.
At the time of writing, the current field includes 68 competitors, only three more than the 2019 championship, but 36 are attending their first WCA competition. That makes the weekend both a return to Egypt’s championship history and an introduction to a new generation of local competitors.
The two-day schedule includes 11 events, with the longer cubes and specialty events taking place Friday before three rounds of 3x3 lead into Saturday’s final.
Seven years after its last national championship, Egypt returns with a new 3x3 champion guaranteed and more first-time competitors than returning competitors.
Zhen Chen and Bofan Zhang Return to the Record Watch
Shanghai Summer 2026 takes place August 1 at The Qube Hotel in Shanghai, China.
Zhen Chen returns to one-handed one week after recording the first sub-7 average in WCA history at Wuhu Open 2026:
7.27, 7.07, (6.12), (9.48), 6.64 = 6.99
Chen entered Wuhu with an 8.22 personal best. He lowered it to 7.99 in the opening round before improving by another full second in the final.
Bofan Zhang gives Shanghai another record-related storyline in 3x3. At Nanchang Summer 2026, Zhang stopped the timer at 2.72 seconds, four hundredths faster than Teodor Zajder’s 2.76 world record. He left the cube one move from solved, turning the attempt into an official 4.72 with a two-second penalty.
Another world-record-level performance from either competitor would be unlikely. Chen’s 6.99 was a major jump, while Zhang needed an exceptional scramble and nearly perfect execution just to put himself in position for the 2.72.
Shanghai will be less about expecting another record and more about seeing what comes next. Chen will try to back up the biggest OH result of his career, while Zhang returns to 3x3 after coming one move from the world record.