Tommy Cherry (USA) has broken his own record for the fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube blindfolded.
At the World Cubing Association's (WCA) Florida Fall 2021 competition in December 2021, expectations were high to see if Tommy could repeat his record-breaking solve time of 15.27 seconds, achieved in August 2021.
However, Tommy ended up smashing his record with a new time of just 14.67 seconds, shaving 0.6 seconds off of his previous time.
"It feels amazing to have the world record! It was such a great moment when all the time and effort I’ve put in over the years finally paid off the first time I broke the world record." - Tommy Cherry
"I’d like to thank my sponsors, TheCubicle and MoYu, for helping me afford to go to lots of cubing competitions and making the records possible!" Tommy said.
"Additionally, I greatly appreciate all the support that my friends, family members and other people I know have given me."
The teen, who also holds the world record for the fastest average time to solve the puzzle blindfolded (15.24 sec), has been cubing for almost 6 and a half years.
"I actually remember the exact day I learned how to solve a cube - July 30, 2015. It took me a few weeks after that to memorise all the steps so that I could solve the cube without needing the assistance of a tutorial."
After honing his Rubik’s Cube solving skills, Tommy set his sights on solving one blindfolded in early 2016.
"Ever since I started cubing I wanted to be able to solve a cube blindfolded, but it wasn’t until months after I learned how to solve a cube that I actually went about learning it (from a YouTube tutorial)."
"My first successful solve [blindfolded] was around 8 minutes, but over time with a lot of practise and learning new techniques, I got faster and faster."
Although Tommy enjoyed solving Rubik’s Cubes while blindfolded, he didn’t have record breaking in mind until he realised his solving speed at home was close to that of the world record time.
"I always wanted to get better and better to improve my world ranking, but a world record wasn’t a specific goal I had in mind until around 2 years ago when I made that realisation."
Despite breaking this world record - twice! – Tommy doesn’t want to stop there, or at a 3x3x3 cube for that matter.
"I still see room for improvement, so I want to try continuing to set records in 3x3x3 blindfolded."
Although I still have quite a sizable way to go, I eventually want to try for the world records for solving the 4x4x4 cube blindfolded and/or the 5x5x5 cube blindfolded."
"I also have wanted to go to a continental championship and a world championship for a very long time. Being able to go would be a dream come true, and winning (or even getting top 3) in 3x3 blindfolded would be the icing on top of the cake."
So what advice would this world champ give to those who want to get into cubing and break a record one day?
"The most important piece of advice I could give is to be passionate about the record(s) you choose to pursue because you will be able to practise much more effectively if you enjoy what you are doing!"
"It takes a lot of time for anyone to get to the point of being capable of breaking these records, so try your best not to get discouraged if your progress feels slow."
We wish Tommy the best of luck for his future endeavours – we’re sure with his skill and determination, there are plenty more cubing records in his future.
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