US Teen Solves Rubik's Cube In 5.25 Seconds, Breaks World Record

Collin Burns solved Rubik’s Cube in less than six seconds. It took the U.S. teenager 5.25 seconds to solve a 3x3x3 cube in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Burns took part in a competition at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown. He went to the final round of the competition. Thereafter, he broke the world record by finishing it as the fastest one to solve a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube.

Mats Valk had the previous world record. The Netherlands teenager solved it in 5.55 seconds at the Zonhoven Open in Belgium in March 2013. According to a March report by the World Cube Association, Valk also turned out to be the winner in four other categories. He won in the categories of 4x4 Cube, 2x2 Cube, 3x3 one-handed and Square-1.

The competition held on Saturday was officially recognised by the World Cube Association. However, the record has not yet been officially recognised. A WCA representative confirmed on Sunday that the U.S. teenager had broken the world record.

"Although this result has not been uploaded to the WCA database just yet, we can confirm that this is (or will be soon) the new official WCA world record for the 3x3x3 single solve category,” the representative said, “To our best knowledge, it has been performed in an official competition, with all the rules being followed, even the scramble has been checked for its correctness." Burns is the present National Champion in the United States. He is the first American to hold a record since 2006.

Australian teenager Feliks Zemdegs set his first world records for 4x4x4 and 3x3x3 average, with times of 42.01 seconds and 9.21 seconds respectively. Zemdegs won the 3x3 event at the Rubik's Cube world championship in Las Vegas in July 2013. He came first in the 4x4 and 3x3 One handed. Zemdegs uses the CLL method to solve the 2x2x2 cube, Yau method to solve the 4x4x4 cube and the Fridrich method to solve the 3x3x3 cube.

Ludwig Fichte, a 29-year-old German skydiver, solved a Rubik's cube while in free-fall 14,000 feet above the ground in 31.5 seconds. Professor Erno Rubik invented the cube in 1974.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au