The Rubik's WCA European Championship 2026 ran July 16-19 at Sportcentrum Valkenhuizen in Arnhem, Netherlands, and it was the biggest event on the calendar this week by a wide margin: over 1,000 competitors from 53 countries, all chasing continental titles across a packed schedule of events. Teodor Zajder walked away with the one that matters most, the 3x3x3 crown, while records fell in blindfolded solving and near-misses piled up elsewhere.
Zajder takes the 3x3 crown
Teodor Zajder is your new 3x3 European Champion. He came into Arnhem as the reigning 3x3 single world-record holder (2.76 seconds, set earlier this year) and, per a pre-event SpeedSolving poll, was seen as the clear second favorite behind Tymon Kolasiński. He flipped that script, taking gold ahead of a competitor identified only as Valerio in second and Kolasiński in third. Reports from the event say a competitor named Jalonso missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds. Full final times had not been published as of this writing, and the World Cube Association's results page still shows results being uploaded.
Hirschi's blindfolded masterclass
Ezra Hirschi of Switzerland had the standout blindfolded run of the week, setting a European record in Multi-Blind (or MBLD, where competitors memorize and then blindfolded-solve as many cubes as possible inside a one-hour window). Hirschi solved 55 of 56 cubes within the cutoff — a success rate that gives a sense of just how demanding the memorization load gets once you're stacking that many cubes at once. Hirschi backed it up with gold in 4x4 Blindfolded (4BLD), with Ryan Eckersley of the UK taking silver in that event.
Kolasiński's near-miss on a world record
Tymon Kolasiński didn't leave Arnhem empty-handed even after missing out on 3x3 gold. He set a competition record in 7x7x7 and, in 4x4x4, produced an average of 18.65 seconds — agonizingly close to his own world record average of 18.56. An "average" in WCA competition means the middle three of five solves are averaged after dropping the fastest and slowest, so shaving nine hundredths off that number is a genuinely narrow margin at the top of the sport.
Quick hits
- Japan's national championship returned for the first time since 2019, running July 18-19 in Daito, Osaka — results were not yet available at time of writing.
- Aidan Grainger won Megaminx gold at Euro2026, though the final had to be redone after a scrambling error caused controversy.
- Reports on who won the Euro2026 Nations Cup conflict: one source says the UK beat Poland in the semifinal and Sweden in the final despite entering as the 7th seed, while another says the Netherlands took the title after Teodor Zajder DNF'd (did not finish) in a deciding match. Unconfirmed pending an official result.
- Roxana Johnson took over as leader of the WCA Quality Assurance Committee (WQAC) this quarter, succeeding Sarah Strong, as the committee reorganizes into three subteams and pilots a new Delegate-training course.
- Competitors at Euro2026 flagged ongoing livestream quality concerns, with hopes that Multi-Blind would finally be streamed properly after issues at past events.
Sources
- World Cube Association — Euro2026 competition page
- Euronews — Rubik's Cube stars shine at European Speedcubing event
- SpeedSolving — Teodor Zajder is your 3x3 European Champion
- Speedcubing.org — British success at the European Championships
- SpeedSolving — Euros 2026 thread
- SpeedSolving — Japan Championship 2026 thread
- SpeedSolving — Who's winning Euro's poll thread
- World Cube Association — WQAC Digest 2026 Q1-Q2