Max Park
Max Park | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Park in 2024 (North American championship) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 28, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Speedcuber | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Known for | Rubik's Cube speedcubing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Max Park (born November 28, 2001) is a Korean-American speedcuber. He is one of only two speedcubers ever to win the World Cube Association (WCA) World Championship twice (the other being Feliks Zemdegs), winning in 2017 and 2023.[1] He holds the world records for the fastest 4×4×4, 6×6×6, and 7×7×7 single solves. Park is autistic, and has used cubing to develop his social and fine motor skills.[2]
Cubing career
[edit]Park began cubing in 2012, and went to his first competition in the same year. At his second ever competition, he won the 6×6×6 event.[3] He continued competing and improving, winning his first gold medal in the 3×3×3 event at Nub Open 2016.[4] On February 25, 2017, he broke the North American Average for the 3×3×3 event, with an average of 6.92 seconds.[5] Two months later on April 23, 2017, Park would break the World Record Average for the 3×3×3 event, with an average of 6.39 seconds.[6]
At the World Championship 2017 in Paris, Park won 3×3×3 and 3×3×3 one-handed and placed 3rd in 5×5×5 and 6×6×6.[7]
At the World Championship 2019 in Melbourne, Park won 4×4×4, 5×5×5, 6×6×6, 7×7×7, and 3×3×3 one-handed events. He finished 4th in the 3×3×3 final after winning the first three rounds.[8]
At the World Championship 2023 in Incheon, Park won 3x3x3 (By 0.01 seconds), 5×5×5, and 7×7×7 events. He also placed 3rd in 4x4x4.[9]
At the World Championship 2025 in Seattle, Park won the 6×6×6 and 7×7×7 events. He also placed 2nd in the 5×5×5 and 3×3×3 one-handed events.[10] He got 8th place in the 3x3 event.
Park is a 3-time US National Champion in 3×3×3, 5-time champion in 4×4×4, 4-time champion in 5×5×5, 3-time champion in 6×6×6, 3-time champion in 7×7×7, and 4-time champion in 3×3×3 one-handed.
Records held
[edit]3×3×3
[edit]Park held the world record for the average of five 3×3×3 solves on four occasions[citation needed] and set the former world record for a single 3×3×3 solve with a time of 3.13 seconds at Pride in Long Beach 2023.[11] His average record was surpassed on March 12, 2023, when 9-year-old Yiheng Wang achieved a 4.69-second average at the Yong Jun KL Speedcubing 2023 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[12] Wang also surpassed Park's single world record with a time of 3.08 seconds at XMUM Cube Open 2025 in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia.[13]
4×4×4
[edit]Park holds the North American record for average of five 4×4×4 solves: 18.74 seconds, set at Mission Viejo 2025, and the world record for a single solve with a time of 15.71, achieved at Colorado Mountain Tour - Evergreen 2024.[14]
5×5×5
[edit]Prior to his first 5×5×5 record, the records for single and average of five 5×5×5 solves had been held by Feliks Zemdegs of Australia, who had improved the two records a combined 32 times.[15] Park is the only person other than Zemdegs or Tymon Kolasiński to have set either 5×5×5 record since August 11, 2012.[15]
6×6×6
[edit]Park holds the world records for both single and mean of three 6×6×6 solves: 57.69 seconds and 1:05.04 respectively, with the single achieved at Burbank Big Cubes 2025 and the mean achieved at Nub Open Trabuco Hills Fall 2025.[16] At Southeast Championship 2022, he became the first person to break the 1-minute barrier on 6×6×6 with a solve of 59.74, a feat that 2-time world champion Feliks Zemdegs had previously stated was impossible.[17]
7×7×7
[edit]Park holds the world records for single and mean of three 7×7×7 solves: 1:33.48 and 1:36.86 respectively. They were both set at Nub Open Trabuco Hills Fall 2025. [18]
3×3×3 one-handed
[edit]Park previously held the world record for 3×3×3 one-handed average of five several times, but it is now held by Luke Garrett from the United States with a time of 7.72 seconds. Park was the first person to achieve a sub-10 second one-handed average in competition, with an average of 9.99 seconds on January 13, 2018 at Thanks Four The Invite 2018.[19]
Notable rankings
[edit]Park's rankings as of Sunday, November 30th, 2025.
| Event[20] | Type | Time (min:sec) | World Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3×3×3 | Single | 3.13 | 3rd |
| Average | 4.86 | 8th | |
| 4×4×4 | Single | 15.71 | 1st |
| Average | 18.74 | 1st | |
| 5×5×5 | Single | 31.54 | 2nd |
| Average | 34.76 | 2nd | |
| 6×6×6 | Single | 57.69 | 1st |
| Average | 1:05.04 | 1st | |
| 7×7×7 | Single | 1:33.48 | 1st |
| Average | 1:36.86 | 1st | |
| 3×3×3 one-handed |
Single | 6.20 | 5th |
| Average | 7.94 | 2nd |
References
[edit]- ^ "Most wins of the WCA World Championship". Retrieved August 2, 2024.
- ^ Bowman, Emma (June 20, 2023). "He once had motor skill challenges. Now he's the world's fastest Rubik's cube solver". NPR. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
- ^ "Diamond Bar Open 2012 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ "Nub Open 2016 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ "Caltech Winter 2017 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ "OCSEF Open 2017 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
- ^ World Cube Association - 2017 World Championship Results
- ^ World Cube Association - 2019 World Championship Results
- ^ World Cube Association - 2023 World Championship Results
- ^ World Cube Association - 2025 World Championship Results
- ^ Walrath-Holdridge, Mary (June 15, 2023). "Watch 21-year-old solve Rubik's Cube in astonishing 3.13 seconds, setting new world record". USA TODAY. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
- ^ "Yong Jun KL Speedcubing 2023 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ "XMUM Cube Open 2025 | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ World Cube Association - 4x4x4 Records
- ^ a b World Cube Association - 5x5x5 History
- ^ World Cube Association - 6x6x6 Records
- ^ [1]
- ^ World Cube Association - 7x7x7 Records
- ^ 3x3x3 One-Handed History
- ^ World Cube Association - Max Park rankings