The Weekend Wrap: August 14-16, 2026
Patrick Ponce broke the One-Handed world record and became Mid-Atlantic champion, Tommy Cherry broke the sub-14 3BLD barrier, and Ezra Hirschi moved to world No. 3 in Multi-Blind.
Patrick Ponce returned to the world record books with a 5.62 One-Handed single before reaching the 3x3 Head-to-Head final and becoming Mid-Atlantic champion.
Tommy Cherry became the first competitor to officially average below 14 seconds in 3BLD, while Ezra Hirschi moved to third in the world in Multi-Blind.
Elsewhere, Yiheng Wang won the overall Head-to-Head bracket in Delaware, Xuanyi Geng successfully defended his Vietnam Championship title, and Kim Roger Haraldsen reclaimed Norway’s 3x3 title.
Welcome back to the Speedcuber’s Digest Weekend Wrap, where we look at the biggest results and storylines from this past weekend.
Patrick Ponce Breaks the One-Handed World Record
Patrick Ponce produced one of the biggest results of the weekend at Mid-Atlantic Speedcubing Championship 2026, recording a 5.62 One-Handed single in the first round.
The result broke Dhruva Sai Meruva’s previous 5.66 world record. It also improved Ponce’s personal best of 6.72 by more than a second.
His full average was:
10.79, 13.99, (5.62), 8.46, (16.35) = 11.08
It is Ponce’s first One-Handed world record single, although he has held the average world record before. He first broke it with an 8.70 in 2022, then lowered it to 8.65 later that year.
Ponce also completed the entire 5.62 without using the table, a technique commonly called “table abuse” in the community. Table-supported OH has become more common among some of the world’s fastest solvers, but Ponce stayed with the traditional off-table style.
The record comes nearly nine years after Ponce recorded a 4.69 3x3 world record single in September 2017.
He was not finished in Dover.
Watch the world record and read the full story here.
Yiheng Wins the Head-to-Head, Ponce Becomes Mid-Atlantic Champion
The 3x3 world record did not fall at Mid-Atlantic Speedcubing Championship 2026, but Yiheng Wang still finished the weekend on top.
Yiheng advanced through the WCA’s new Head-to-Head bracket and defeated Patrick Ponce in the final.
That made Yiheng the overall winner of the 3x3 final.
Ponce’s runner-up finish still earned him another title.
Mid-Atlantic Speedcubing Championship 2026 is open to competitors from around the world, but the Mid-Atlantic champion title is limited to competitors from the region.
With Yiheng representing China, Ponce was the highest-finishing eligible competitor and became the 2026 Mid-Atlantic 3x3 champion.
That gave Ponce a world record and a regional championship during the same weekend.
But the Head-to-Head format itself also became part of the story.
During one of Luke Griesser’s matches, Griesser lost a point after starting shortly before the announcer’s “GO” signal.
Under the Head-to-Head rules, competitors must wait for the shared “GO” call before starting.
Later in the same set, his opponent turned the cube during inspection, which is also a DNF under WCA regulations.
That is where the procedure became confusing.
After the opponent’s DNF, the normal countdown stopped. Griesser was not sure if he was still supposed to solve and asked what he should do.
He eventually completed the solve, but officials ordered an extra attempt instead of simply giving Griesser the point.
The situation showed one possible problem with simultaneous starts.
Head-to-Head competitors cannot begin until the announcer says “GO.” At the same time, the normal 15 and 17-second inspection penalties do not apply in this format.
When the normal countdown stopped, it was no longer clear what Griesser was supposed to do.
The decision drew criticism from some people watching the competition and appeared to leave Griesser frustrated. It also showed some of the challenges that can come with using a new format in official WCA competition.
In our Weekend Preview, the Head-to-Head format was notable because it gave Yiheng significantly more record-eligible attempts at the 3x3 world record.
By the end of the weekend, the format itself had become one of the stories.
Tommy Cherry Breaks the Sub-14 3BLD Barrier
While Ponce was setting a world record in Delaware, Tommy Cherry broke another one at Hefei August Open 2026.
Cherry recorded a 13.97 3x3 Blindfolded average, becoming the first competitor in history to officially average below 14 seconds.
His solves were:
13.68, 14.48, (13.60), 13.75, (13.87+2=15.87) = 13.97
Cherry and Charlie Eggins, commonly known within the community as Cheggins, had previously shared the world record at 14.05.
The 13.97 puts Cherry back on top by himself.
The result came despite a +2 penalty on his final solve. Without that penalty, the same five solves would have produced a 13.77 average.
Cherry now holds both major 3BLD world records, pairing the 13.97 average with his 11.56 world record single from Mid-Atlantic Quiet Championship 2026.
Read the full interview with Cherry here.
Ezra Hirschi Moves to World No. 3 in Multi-Blind
Ezra Hirschi added another major blindfolded result at Kewbz UK Blindfolded Championship 2026.
Hirschi attempted 64 cubes in one hour and successfully solved 62:
62/64 in 59:56
The result is worth 60 points and gives Hirschi a new European Record. It also moves him to third in the world.
Rowe Hessler also has a 60-point result after solving 63 of 66 cubes.
But Hessler completed his attempt in 59:50.
Those six seconds keep Hessler at world No. 2 and Hirschi at No. 3.
World record holder Graham Siggins remains No. 1 with a 61-point result.
Hirschi’s previous European Record was 55/56, worth 54 points.
His new result adds six points to the record while raising his attempt from 56 cubes to 64.
Yufang Du Wins CCA China Championship
Yufang Du added another major title in China, winning the CCA China Championship.
Du advanced to the championship match against Yi Shen, then took control of the first-to-nine final.
He defeated Yi 9-3 to secure the championship.
The win adds another major result to Du’s 2026 season as he continues to establish himself among China’s top 3x3 competitors.
Xuanyi Geng Defends Vietnam Championship
Xuanyi Geng successfully defended his title at Vietnam Championship 2026, winning the 3x3 final with a 4.30 average.
His final solves were:
(4.57), 4.02, 4.55, 4.33, (3.14) = 4.30
Qixian Cao finished second with a 5.36 average, while Timofei Tarasenko completed the podium at 6.27.
The result was close to what we previewed before the weekend.
Xuanyi and Qixian finished first and second at Vietnam Championship 2025. One year later, they finished in the same two spots.
Xuanyi was also much faster than last year. He won the 2025 competition with a 5.02 average, compared with his 4.30 this year.
Behind the three international leaders, Đỗ Quang Hưng was the top Vietnamese competitor.
He finished fourth overall with a 6.67 average and became the Vietnamese 3x3 champion.
Đặng Trần Diễn followed at 7.40, with Nguyễn Tuấn Công sixth overall at 7.69.
Xuanyi entered Hanoi as the clear favorite and ultimately delivered, giving him back-to-back Vietnam Championship victories.
Kim Roger Haraldsen Reclaims Norway’s 3x3 Title
The prediction in Norway played out almost exactly as expected.
Kim Roger Haraldsen won Norwegian Championship 2026 with a 6.96 average.
The final podium was all Norwegian:
The final standings were:
1. Kim Roger Haraldsen - 6.96
2. Herman Westerlund Kalland - 7.13
3. Knut Skaug Haraldsen - 7.47
Kim had won Norwegian Championship 2024, then finished second overall at Norwegian Championship 2025 behind Valerio Locatelli.
With Valerio not returning in 2026, Kim put Norway back on top of its own 3x3 podium.
And 3x3 was only part of his weekend.
Kim also won 5x5 with 47.97, 6x6 with 1:22.45, and 7x7 with a 2:10.21 Norwegian Record mean.
Rasmus Heggvik Aune added two more Norwegian Records in the blindfolded events.
He averaged 23.57 in 3BLD and recorded 35/38 in 57:52 in Multi-Blind.
$100,000 Asian Championship Prize Pool Announced
The weekend also brought major news away from competition results.
The Asian Mind Sports Association announced a $100,000 prize pool for its inaugural AMSA Asian Speed Cubing Championships, scheduled for January 21-24, 2027.
The $100,000 purse appears to be the largest ever announced for a speedcubing competition.
The money will be spread across individual, national or regional team, and club competition.
The announcement is another sign of growing prize money in competitive speedcubing, especially outside traditional WCA championships.
Between Ponce’s 5.62, Cherry finally pushing 3BLD below 14 seconds, Hirschi attempting 64 cubes in Multi-Blind, Yiheng winning the new Head-to-Head bracket, Xuanyi defending in Vietnam, and Kim Roger Haraldsen reclaiming Norway’s championship, the weekend delivered major results across several very different parts of competitive speedcubing.