Meet Teodor Zajder, the 9-year-old Polish speedcuber who became the first person to solve a 3×3 Rubik's Cube in under 3 seconds

Records can change in just a few seconds, especially in speedcubing, where fractions of a second can separate one performance from another. On February 8, 2026, Polish speedcuber Teodor Zajder produced a record-breaking solve at the GLS Big Cubes Gdańsk 2026 event in Gdańsk, Poland.

Zajder completed a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube in 2.76 seconds, according to Guinness World Records. The performance made him the first person to break the three-second barrier in the event.

Teodor Zajder completes a 2.76-second solve

The record was achieved in the GLS Big Cubes Gdańsk 2026 competition, which happened in Gdańsk, Poland, on February 8, 2026. The World Cube Association's competition records list Zajder's 2.76-second result as a world record in the 3x3x3 Cube event.


Guinness World Records identifies the fastest time to solve a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube as 2.76 seconds, achieved by Zajder in Gdańsk.

The result was recorded as a single solve. In the same competition, Zajder also won the 3x3x3 Cube event with an average time of 5.15 seconds, according to the World Cube Association.

Nine-year-old becomes first to go under three seconds

Zajder was nine years old when he produced the record-breaking performance. His 2.76-second solve signified the first time a competitor had gone below three seconds for the 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube, as per the Guinness World Records.

The performance was part of the initial round of the 3x3x3 Cube competition. The World Cube Association records Zajder's five solves in that round as 4.99 seconds, 5.36 seconds, 5.76 seconds, 2.76 seconds and 5.34 seconds, producing an average of 5.23 seconds for the round.

Zajder breaks Xuanyi Geng's previous mark

Before Zajder's performance, the record stood at 3.05 seconds. Chinese speedcuber Xuanyi Geng set that mark at the Shenyang Spring 2025 event in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, on April 13, 2025.

Zajder's 2.76-second solve lowered that previous mark by 0.29 seconds. Guinness World Records lists Geng's 3.05-second performance as the previous record that Zajder surpassed.

A record set at GLS Big Cubes Gdańsk 2026

The GLS Big Cubes Gdańsk 2026 competition was held from February 7 to 8, 2026, in Gdańsk, Poland. The World Cube Association lists 95 competitors for the competition.

Zajder finished first in the 3x3x3 Cube event with a 5.15-second average. Olaf Kuźmiński finished second with a 5.35-second average, while Ihor Sukhovatenko finished third with a 7.22-second average.

Zajder also competed in the 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 Cube events at the same competition. His 2.76-second 3x3x3 solve, however, became the performance recorded as the world record.

The result placed Zajder in the record books at just nine years old, while also marking a new milestone in the speedcubing discipline: completing a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube in less than three seconds.

Source: Guinness World Records

FAQs:

1. Who is Teodor Zajder?
Teodor Zajder is a Polish speedcuber. He was nine years old when he achieved the record-breaking solve.

2. What record did Teodor Zajder set?
Zajder set the fastest time to solve a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube. His recorded time was 2.76 seconds.