A 15-year-old student from Shenzhen has won at the Rubik’s Cube World Championship in 4.73 seconds, setting a world record.

What can you do in 4.73 seconds? In the time it might take you to blow your nose, 15-year-old Lou Yunhao from Shenzhen solved a Rubik’s clock (a handheld puzzle popularized by the maker of the Rubik’s cube) to earn his place at the top of the champions’ podium at the Rubik’s Cube World Championship held in July in Melbourne. The boy has a track record as a multi-talented player who has also broken world records for the Rubik’s clock competition four times, and participated in sport stacking (also called cup stacking or speed stacking), traditional Rubik’s cube competitions and other hands-on agility challenges.

During an interview, Lou showed a Rubik’s clock to a reporter in a Rubik’s store. He told the reporter that the Rubik’s clock is a Rubik’s cube with two sides to solve, each of which has nine dials. Players must adjust the pointers on the dials by pressing four buttons and gears until all point to the 12 o’clock position.

Later, Lou demonstrated his skills with the Rubik’s clock. He picked up a Rubik’s clock from a table, observing it for two or three seconds before starting a timer. His fingers twirled the Rubik’s clock and solved it within five seconds. Friends around him said with a smile that he had done it slower than usual.

However, Lou nearly lost the championship at the final round. According to the rules of the race, before the clock starts, players have four to five seconds to observe their Rubik’s clock. The timer cannot start until players place their Rubik’s clock steadily on the table. However, in the fourth round, Lou’s Rubik’s clock fell onto the table, invalidating that round. He could no longer afford to make any more mistakes.

Fortunately, Lou achieved 4.42 seconds in the fifth round, which was even faster than his previous four rounds. After computing his final averaged time, Lou won the championship at an record time of 4.73 seconds.

Lou said that he was a little nervous at that time, but did not over think things. Instead, he just focused on the next round. Before the competition, he had confidence in himself that he would be in the top three.

In the summer vacation of 2017, Lou began learning to solve the Rubik’s clock. By October that year, he had participated in his first Rubik’s clock competition, the WCA (World Rubik’s Cube Association), China’s 10th anniversary Rubik’s cube competition, finishing third.

Subsequently, Lou participated in a number of other competitions. At the 2018 WCA Shenzhen Rubik’s Cube Open, he broke the world record with a time of 4.90 seconds. On the second day of competition, he set a new world record for the Rubik’s clock speed twist.

At present, Lou has broken the world record four times and refreshed three of his own world records. In addition to the Rubik’s clock, Lou also participated and achieved good performance in the blind twist, single hand, and single foot twist Rubik’s cubes and other competitions.

Lou’s father said that, as a child, Lou was very interested in technical and strategic games. Lou even used tools to break a violin into parts.

In addition to both talent and passion, his achievements are also made possible by his efforts. In the midst of his busy life as a student, he always finds time with the Rubik’s clock without falling behind in class. He said, “I enjoy playing the Rubik’s clock. Because of this, I have made many friends, and that is what it brought to me.”

(Chen Chujie)