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China’s Ziyu Ye Smashes 2×2×2 World Record with 0.39 at Hefei Open 2025

Hands solving a 2x2 cube on a competition timer as a judge observes during a speedcubing event in Hefei, China.

On October 25, 2025, China’s Ziyu Ye (叶梓渝) delivered a landmark sprint in Hefei, stopping the clock at 0.39 seconds to set a new 2×2×2 single world record at the Hefei Open 2025. The time—achieved in the first round of 2×2—surpassed the long-standing 0.43-second mark and instantly became the fastest officially recognized 2×2 solve in World Cube Association (WCA) history. The result was recorded at TIMG-PARK in Hefei’s Baohe District and ratified by the on-site WCA delegate team. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Background/Context

The 2×2×2, often dubbed the “Pocket Cube,” demands near-perfect execution and inspection. World-class solves at this scale compress planning, hand speed, and muscle memory into fractions of a second, with micro-errors magnified by the event’s sprint-like nature. For years, the benchmark for a perfect flick-and-finish single hovered in the four-tenths range. Poland’s Teodor Zajder pushed the frontier to 0.43 seconds at Warsaw Cube Masters 2023, a performance that stood as the figure to beat heading into 2025. Ye’s 0.39 undercuts that mark by four hundredths—an enormous leap at this level. (guinnessworldrecords.com)

Officially, the WCA confirmed Hefei Open 2025 as the venue and date for the new record, listing Ye’s 0.39 in the competition highlights and in his personal results breakdown. These pages document the meet (190 competitors), the venue and delegates, and the summary of records set, providing the authoritative anchor for the performance. (worldcubeassociation.org)

The Solve and the Stage

Ye’s world record came in the first round of 2×2, a round in which he ultimately averaged 1.38, but the headline moment was the last entry in his five attempts: …1.94, 1.31, 1.38, 1.46, 0.39. The data confirms the sub-four-tenths bombshell landed after a string of solid, low-1s solves—a hallmark of stability preceding a historic single. The competition’s podium for 2×2 was topped by fellow Chinese star Yiheng Wang, who posted a 1.44 average; Ye’s single, however, was the undisputed showstopper. (worldcubeassociation.org)

The Hefei Open 2025 setting underscores how deep China’s speedcubing talent pool has become across events. In 3×3, Xuanyi Geng took the win with a 4.62 average, while Lingkun Jiang posted a 1.33 average to win Pyraminx, and Kaixi Guo set an Asian Record average of 1.53 on Skewb—an indicator of the broader momentum that framed Ye’s 2×2 blast. The competition’s official page lists these outcomes alongside Ye’s world record, painting a picture of a meet saturated with elite performances. (worldcubeassociation.org)

From a procedural perspective, top-tier records like this are validated under the WCA Regulations, which—after a January 2025 update—clarified several areas including how video review and frame-by-frame analysis can be handled when necessary. While the WCA does not publicize every step of a given verification, the regulatory framework ensures consistent scrutiny for results that sit at the edge of human performance. (worldcubeassociation.org)

The previous benchmark

Before Hefei, the road to sub-0.40 featured a multi-year stalemate against the low-0.4s ceiling. Zajder’s 0.43 in November 2023, itself a razor-thin improvement on earlier marks, had raised questions about whether a mid-0.3s result was feasible in competition conditions. Ye’s 0.39 decisively answers that question, moving the line and setting a new psychological marker for the discipline. (guinnessworldrecords.com)

Why It Matters

Breaking a boundary in sprint events does more than rewrite a record list—it reshapes how athletes approach the event. At 0.39, any inefficiency during inspection or execution becomes fatal; solvers must maximize pre-solve planning and minimize pauses while maintaining full control of turning accuracy and grip transitions. The record reminds the community that marginal gains—finger tricks, turning cadence, and route selection—are compounding forces even on a two-layer cube.

The result also accelerates the ongoing arms race in practice methodology and hardware tuning. While competitors rarely disclose exact setups immediately after historic solves, modern 2×2 hardware with strong, stable magnetization and refined corner-cutting tolerances supports the hyper-aggressive approaches needed to flirt with three-tenths. For coaches and aspiring sprinters, Ye’s run will become a benchmark case study in consistency leading into an explosive peak attempt.

For the broader scene, the Hefei Open 2025 weekend reinforced how China continues to set the pace across multiple events—3×3, side events like Pyraminx and Skewb, and now the Pocket Cube single. That clustering of elite results often signals an imminent wave of near-misses and, sometimes, quick record turnovers as rivals recalibrate strategies.

What’s Next

With the 0.39 standard established, attention shifts to two fronts:

  • Whether anyone can sustain the precision required to inch closer to the mid-0.3s in official conditions across the rest of 2025 and early 2026.
  • How average records respond: strong fields and frequent starts can turn a burst of singles into a faster average landscape, amplifying pressure in finals and late rounds.

The WCA Regulations Committee has already signaled ongoing work toward the next regulatory update (scheduled to take effect for competitions beginning on or after January 1, 2026), ensuring procedures keep pace with the sport’s speed. For athletes chasing Ye’s mark, the path forward will be familiar: iterate setups, drill micro-transitions, and hope that practice and preparation converge when the stackmat beeps. (worldcubeassociation.org)

Key details at a glance:

  • New 2×2×2 single world record: 0.39s by Ziyu Ye at Hefei Open 2025 (Hefei, China), set on October 25, 2025. (worldcubeassociation.org)
  • Ye’s record-breaking single occurred in Round 1 with a series of 1.94 / 1.31 / 1.38 / 1.46 / 0.39. (worldcubeassociation.org)
  • Previous WR: 0.43s by Teodor Zajder (Warsaw Cube Masters 2023). (guinnessworldrecords.com)
  • Event highlights also included Xuanyi Geng’s 4.62 3×3 average win, Lingkun Jiang’s 1.33 Pyraminx average, and Kaixi Guo’s Skewb Asian Record average of 1.53. (worldcubeassociation.org)