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Cubzor newsJuly 10, 2026

Kyle Santucci Wins NAC 2026 as Max Park Sets 7x7 World Record

Canada’s Kyle Santucci won NAC 2026 with a 5.63 3x3 average, while Max Park lowered the 7x7 world record single to 1:30.59.

Hands solving a 3x3 cube at a competition table, with a judge and convention-hall crowd in the background.

Canada’s Kyle Santucci won the 3x3 main event at Rubik’s WCA North American Championship 2026, closing the July 2–5 competition in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a 5.63-second average. Matty Hiroto Inaba finished second in 5.70, while Max Park took third in 5.93. The same championship also produced a world record: Park lowered the 7x7 single to 1:30.59. (worldcubeassociation.org)

The four-day event at the Raleigh Convention Center served as both the third WCA North American Championship and the nineteenth US National Championship. The official WCA page lists 892 competitors, making the result a major title rather than another strong finish on the regular competition circuit. (worldcubeassociation.org) (cubingusa.org)

A 5.63 average decided the 3x3 title

Santucci’s final was built on five solves of 5.30, 6.28, 5.23, 5.50, and 6.09 seconds. Under the WCA average-of-five format, the fastest and slowest results are dropped, leaving 5.30, 5.50, and 6.09 as the counting solves. Their 5.63 average gave Santucci the title by 0.07 seconds over Inaba. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Inaba’s five solves were 5.54, 5.83, 6.26, 5.74, and 5.46, producing a 5.70 average. Park followed with 5.87, 6.22, 5.99, 5.93, and 4.98 for 5.93. The top three were separated by three-tenths of a second, and all three completed every final solve in under 6.30.

The result is also a clear step forward from Santucci’s previous North American Championship appearance. His WCA profile lists a fifth-place finish in the 2024 3x3 final with a 6.20 average. In Raleigh, he improved both the placing and the final-round time while moving ahead of two of the strongest US competitors in the field. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Santucci’s official 3x3 personal-record average remains the 5.30 Canadian record he set in 2025. That distinction is useful context: a championship final does not need to be a personal best to be a winning performance. In Raleigh, the key number was the complete five-solve set and how it compared with the other finalists on the same stage.

Max Park resets the 7x7 single record

Park’s weekend included a separate headline in 7x7. His final-round attempts were 1:44.78, 1:44.92, and 1:30.59, giving him the event win with a 1:40.10 mean and a new world-record single. The 1:30.59 result cut 1.48 seconds from his previous 1:32.07 record, set at West Coast Cubing Western Championship 2026 in May. (worldcubeassociation.org) (worldcubeassociation.org)

The record continues Park’s own rapid progression in 7x7. His official record history includes a 1:33.48 single at Nub Open Trabuco Hills Fall 2025 and the 1:32.07 result at West Coast Cubing Western Championship 2026 before Raleigh pushed the benchmark below 1:31 for the first time. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Park also won 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, and 7x7 at NAC 2026. His 5x5 winning average of 34.65 was marked as a North American record, while his other podiums included third in 3x3 and second in 3x3 One-Handed. That gave him six podium finishes even though Santucci took the main title. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Other winners from Raleigh

NAC 2026 ran all 17 current WCA events. Beyond the 3x3 final and Park’s big-cube results, several winning performances stood out in the official results:

  • Sujan Feist won 2x2 with a 1.31 average.
  • Luke Garrett won 3x3 One-Handed with an 8.79 average.
  • Aaron Jake Wong won Clock with a 2.73 average.
  • David Andron-Silva won Pyraminx with a 1.95 average.
  • Andrew Tao won 3x3 Multi-Blind with 60 successful cubes out of 63 in 58:36.

The championship also drew competitors from outside North America. Indonesia’s Matthew Liong won Megaminx with a 30.03 average, and the 4x4 podium included the Philippines’ Neo Cuares in second. The field therefore worked as both a continental title event and a large international competition, consistent with CubingUSA’s pre-event description of welcoming competitors from North America and the rest of the world. (worldcubeassociation.org) (cubingusa.org)

Why the result matters

For 3x3 solvers, Santucci’s win is a useful example of championship consistency. His 5.63 average was not the fastest average of his career, and none of his final solves was the fastest single in the round. What mattered was keeping the full set within a narrow enough range to beat a final packed with sub-six-second competitors.

For big-cube specialists, Park’s 1:30.59 gives 7x7 a new target only weeks after the previous record. The improvement is large by current elite standards, but the accompanying 1:40.10 mean also shows the difference between one exceptional solve and three-attempt consistency. Park still holds the 1:36.86 world-record mean from 2025.

Together, the two headlines capture different ways to leave a championship with a landmark result: Santucci won the highest-profile title through a complete five-solve final, while Park produced the weekend’s fastest move in the record books with one breakthrough 7x7 attempt.

Key takeaways

  • Kyle Santucci won the NAC 2026 3x3 final with a 5.63 average, ahead of Matty Hiroto Inaba at 5.70 and Max Park at 5.93. (worldcubeassociation.org)
  • Max Park set a 1:30.59 7x7 single world record, improving his previous mark by 1.48 seconds. (worldcubeassociation.org)
  • The Raleigh championship ran July 2–5 with 892 competitors and all 17 WCA events. (worldcubeassociation.org)