Zhen Chen just did something nobody has done in official competition: averaged under seven seconds solving 3x3x3 one-handed. At the Wuhu Open 2026 in Anhui, China, on July 25, Chen posted a 6.99 world record average, breaking a barrier that has stood through years of steady progress in one of the sport's most technical events. The same week also delivered a genuine changing-of-the-guard at the European Championship, where a 10-year-old took the continent's biggest 3x3x3 title.

Zhen Chen breaks the seven-second barrier

An ao5 (average of five) in one-handed (OH) solving means completing five solves with a single hand — no second hand to hold algorithms steady or help with regrips — and having the middle three results averaged. It's brutal on turning speed and finger tricks alike, which is why sub-7 averages had never been recorded officially before now.

Chen's 6.99 wasn't a one-off spike in form. It follows an earlier Asian-record average of 7.99 by the same cuber, meaning this is roughly a full second of improvement built up over recent results rather than a lucky day.

A 10-year-old takes Europe's biggest title

The Rubik's WCA European Championship 2026 ran July 16–19 in Arnhem, Netherlands, drawing roughly 1,199 competitors from 53 countries — one of the largest championships on the calendar. In the marquee 3x3x3 event, Teodor Zajder of Poland won outright with a 5.46 average, ahead of Italy's Valerio Locatelli (5.74) and Poland's own Tymon Kolasiński (5.90), the reigning champion.

Zajder already holds the official 3x3x3 single world record at 2.76 seconds, set in February 2026, and is described in community coverage as around nine or ten years old. Beating a proven podium threat in Locatelli and a champion of Kolasiński's caliber, at a championship this size, is the kind of result that reshapes who counts as the event's favorite going forward.

Kolasiński's continental sweep, and Beahan's double

Kolasiński didn't leave Arnhem empty-handed. He won both 4x4x4 (20.24 average) and 5x5x5 (35.38 average), and broke his own European 7x7x7 record twice in the same event, first with 1:42.14 and then with 1:41.64. Ireland's Ciarán Beahan took 5x5x5 bronze there with 42.10.

Eight days later, Beahan was back on top at home: he won the 3x3x3 title at the Rubik's Irish Championship 2026 in Waterford with a 7.03 average, ahead of Cillian Hainbach (7.21) and Prabhav Rajaram Nayak (7.39). A continental podium finish followed by a national title in the space of a week and a half is a strong stretch for any competitor.

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