2003 Rubik's Cube World Championship

2003 Rubik's Cube World Championship
Tournament information
Sport	Speedcubing
Location	Toronto, Canada
Date	23–24 August 2003
Host	Canada
Venue	Ontario Science Center
Final positions
1st runner-up	Jessica Fridrich
2nd runner-up	David Wesley
Final champion
	Dan Knights

The 2003 Rubik's Cube World Championship, also known as WC2003, was a competition for speedsolving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube, and various other mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as twisty puzzles.^[1] It was held in Toronto and was attended by 83 participants.^[2] The competition led to the formation of the World Cube Association in 2004.^[2] Most notably, it was the first speedcubing competition since 1982, and the first in the 21st century. The next world championship was held in 2005 in Florida, United States, with some differences, the most notable being the addition of the 3x3x3 'With Feet' event.

Dan Knights from the United States was the winner with an average time of 20.00 seconds. The average was calculated over the middle three of five solve times (which excludes the fastest and slowest). The prize for first place was 5,000 Canadian dollars.^[3]

Results

3x3x3 Cube

Place	Name	Average	Status	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3	Attempt 4	Attempt 5
Average of 5
1	Dan Knights	20.00	WR	USA	21.13	19.93	18.95	22.07	18.76
2	Jessica Fridrich	20.48		USA	27.53	22.22	17.33	17.12	21.88
3	David Wesley	20.96	ER	Sweden	24.87	21.82	19.81	19.84	21.22
4	Lars Vandenbergh	21.54	NR	Belgium	21.42	19.27	21.49	22.19	21.70
5	Jess Bonde	21.68	NR	Denmark	20.34	21.29	23.42	25.06	19.21
6	David Allen	21.92		USA	22.13	17.95	27.67	24.06	19.56
7	Gene Means	22.10		USA	29.28	20.92	21.48	23.88	20.93
8	Ron van Bruchem	22.92	NR	Netherlands	25.97	24.46	24.71	19.58	19.46

4x4x4 Cube

Place	Name	Average	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3
Average of 3
1	Masayuki Akimoto (秋元正行)	1:36.98	Japan	1:43.40	1:27.06	1:40.49
2	David Wesley	1:45.88	Sweden	1:57.47	1:32.46	1:47.72
3	Ron van Bruchem	1:57.75	Netherlands	1:42.95	2:00.83	2:09.48

5x5x5 Cube

Place	Name	Average	Status	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3
Average of 3
1	Masayuki Akimoto (秋元正行)	2:50.45	WR	Japan	2:56.76	2:47.62	2:46.96
2	David Wesley	2:56.29		Sweden	3:07.69	3:01.56	2:39.62
3	Grant Tregay	3:41.96		USA	3:55.13	3:40.22	3:30.52

3x3x3 Blindfolded

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Dror Vomberg	3:56.00	WR	Israel
2	Shotaro Makisumi (牧角章太郎)	6:35.00	AsR	Japan
3	Dan Knights	DNF		USA

3x3x3 Fewest Moves

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Mirek Goljan	29 Moves	WR	Czechia
2	David Barr	36 Moves	NAR	USA

3x3x3 One Handed

Place	Name	Best Attempt	Status	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2
Best of 2
1	Chris Hardwick	44.98	WR	USA	44.98	1:00.45
2	Michael Atkinson	54.04		USA	54.04	1:20.52
3	Grant Tregay	1:02.05		USA	1:36.99	1:02.05
4	David Wesley	1:10.67	ER	Sweden	2:11.44	1:10.67
5	Lars Petrus	1:14.53		Sweden	1:23.53	1:14.53
6	Joe Allen	1:14.58		USA	1:14.58	2:47.69
7	David Allen	1:19.04		USA	1:19.04	DNF
8	Heath Litton	1:20.19		USA	2:01.24	1:20.19
9	Brent Morgan	1:21.35		USA	1:56.59	1:21.35
10	Peter Babcock	1:32.88		USA	2:27.77	1:32.88
11	Kenneth Brandon	2:03.45		USA	2:03.45	2:13.89
12	Michiel van der Blonk	2:06.23	NR	Netherlands	3:12.15	2:06.23

Clock

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Jaap Scherphuis	38.97	WR	Netherlands
2	Jasmine Lee	42.00	OcR	Australia
3	Lars Vandenbergh	45.52	NR	Belgium
4	Michael Powers	54.20	NAR	USA
5	Ron van Bruchem	1:33.74		Netherlands
6	Jeff Goetz	2:01.06		USA

Megaminx

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Grant Tregay	2:12.82	WR	USA
2	Richard Patterson	4:12.38		USA
3	Ron van Bruchem	4:26.56	ER	Netherlands
4	Jake Rueth	4:42.74		USA
5	Betty Tregay	5:12.64		USA

Pyraminx

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Andy Bellenir	14.09	WR	USA
2	Jake Rueth	19.85		USA
3	Jeff Goetz	29.50		USA
4	Richard Patterson	31.10		USA
5	Jaap Scherphuis	31.20	ER	Netherlands
6	Dan Harris	35.02	NR	United Kingdom

Square-1

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Lars Vandenbergh	41.80	WR	Belgium
2	Jeff Goetz	1:42.12	NAR	USA
3	Ron van Bruchem	2:14.28	NR	Netherlands
4	Paul Attar	2:19.40	NR	Canada

4x4x4 Blindfolded

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Dror Vomberg	22:35.00	WR	Israel

5x5x5 Blindfolded

Place	Name	Attempt	Status	Country
Best of 1
1	Dror Vomberg	DNF	WR	Israel

Magic

Place	Name	Best Attempt	Status	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3
Best of 3
1	Jaap Scherphuis	3.06	WR	Netherlands	5.34	3.19	3.06
2	Jake Rueth	3.27	NAR	USA	3.27	4.71	4.30
3	Jon Morris	4.51		USA	5.33	4.53	4.51
4	Jason Hildebrand	5.18		USA	5.73	9.23	5.18
5	Ron van Bruchem	5.83		Netherlands	5.83	6.07	14.05
6	Michiel van der Blonk	6.65		Netherlands	9.69	7.85	6.65

Master Magic

Place	Name	Best Attempt	Status	Country	Attempt 1	Attempt 2	Attempt 3
Best of 3
1	Jaap Scherphuis	8.22	WR	Netherlands	9.91	13.92	8.22
2	Kevin Brandon	8.45	NAR	USA	8.45	8.47	8.62
3	Kenneth Brandon	9.34		USA	13.02	10.78	9.34
4	Jake Rueth	10.85		USA	16.72	21.21	10.85
5	Jon Morris	11.09		USA	22.97	11.09	11.93

WR = World Record

ER = European Record

AsR = Asian Record

NAR = North American Record

NR = National Record

DNF = Did Not Finish

References

↑ "Welcome to the World Cube Association". WCA.
1 2 Harris, Dan (2008). Speedsolving the Cube. Sterling. p. 3. ISBN 978-1402753138.
↑ "Software developer takes Rubik's prize". Canada: The Globe and Mail. 25 August 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2025.

[1] "Welcome to the World Cube Association". WCA.

[harris-2] 1 2 Harris, Dan (2008). Speedsolving the Cube. Sterling. p. 3. ISBN 978-1402753138.

[3] "Software developer takes Rubik's prize". Canada: The Globe and Mail. 25 August 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2025.

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