Minh Thai's record at the World Rubik's Cube Championship is the first record recognized by the WCA, although it didn't exist at the time. This event would be the only significant speedcubing event in the 20th century.
2. 15.07 (2004)
Answer: Shotaro Makisumi
Makisumi would dominate the early WCA Caltech events and help lend credence to their records. This was his first record, set in January, which he beat the same day. He would also beat his own record twice on the same day in April.
3. 9.86 (2007)
Answer: Thibaut Jacquinot
The first ever sub-10 achieved in a competition, the Frenchman set it at the first Spanish Open, which allowed competitors from outside Spain to compete.
4. 8.72 (2008)
Answer: Yu Nakajima
Incredibly, Nakajima got this time twice on the same day, once in the second round and once in the final of the Kashiwa Open.
5. 7.03 (2010)
Answer: Feliks Zemdegs
This was Feliks Zemdeg's start of a series of seven 3x3 single records in 2010 and 2011. He would find the top spot again in 2016 and twice in 2018, along with 13 records in the average category and many more on other puzzles, for a total of 121 world records set in his career as of early 2025.
6. 5.55 (2013)
Answer: Mats Valk
Valk would retake the top time in 2016 with a 4.74. He since released his own line of speed cubes.
7. 4.90 (2015)
Answer: Lucas Etter
Etter got the first-ever sub-5 time at 14 years old, at a high school competition. Earlier in the day at the same competition, Keaton Ellis got a 5.09, which under current WCA regulations was never recognized as a world record as it was broken the same day.
8. 4.69 (2017)
Answer: Patrick Ponce
Ponce is now perhaps better known for his one-handed average world records, with an 8.70 and 8.65 in 2022 and another 8.65 in 2023.
9. 3.47 (2018)
Answer: Yusheng Du
Yusheng's record was a massive surprise, shaving almost eight tenths off Zemdeg's record of 4.22 seconds. It would stand for over four years, by far the longest reign since competitions resumed in the early 2000s.
10. 3.13 (2023)
Answer: Max Park
Max Park finally managed to break the 3.47, and did so in style, by over three tenths. He had been setting world average records since 2017, but the 3.13 was only his second-ever time below four seconds in a competition.
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