Lucas Etter solved the Cube in 4.90 seconds
Update 2016: This record was broken by Mats Valk (4.74 sec)
Breaking News!
The official WCA Rubik's Cube Single World record was broken on the River Hill Fall 2015 competition which was held in Clarksville, Maryland (USA) on the 21st of November 2015. Keaton Ellis broke the World Record of Collin Burns (5.25) first, with an amazing 5.09 result but since Lucas Etter beat this time at the same competition on the same day, this one never counted as a record. The World Cube Association regulation says: 9i2) All the results of a round are considered to take place on the last calendar date of the round. If a regional record is broken multiple times on the same calendar date, only the best result is recognised as breaking that regional record.
To be more precise, there were 3 WRs in one day. Collin Burns broke his own record with 5.21, but this one turned out to be a misscramble, and he got an extra attempt. After that followed Keaton Ellis with 5.09 and finally Lucas Etter with 4.90. Lucas Etter is now officially the new World Record holder for the Rubik's Cube single with a 4.90 solution time which is the first sub-5 record ever measured with a stackmat timer on an official competition.
This is an incredible day in the speedcubing community because this is the very first sub 5 result which is a remarkable mile stone and it has always been a big question if such a result is even possible.
Usually we have to wait two years for the Rubik's WR to be broken but this time it all happened in a single day which makes this day even more unrealistic.
All the three competitors used the same advanced CFOP method to solve the Rubik's Cube.
It's an interesting fact that this is not the best time recorded by Lucas. He had posted a video on his youtube channel where he managed to solve the cube in 4.30 seconds but unfortunately this one wasn't performed on an official competition. So if you're wondering if it's possible to cut the current record even lower, it has been proven that it is.
The solution applied
For those who want to analize the solution, we publish the applied method. Press the play button below to see the animation slowed down. Lucas performed more than 40 moves in less than 5 seconds using finger tricks.
The initial scramble: R2 B D2 F2 U2 R D2 L' B L' B D R' F' U B2 F L
The solution:
Z2 - inspection
D' L' R' F R D2' - cross
U2 L' U' L - 1st pair
U' U' U' F' U' F U R U' R' - 2nd pair
Y R U R' - 3rd pair
U' Y U' U' R U R' - 4th pair
U r U r' R U R' U' r U' r' - OLL(CP)
Please read about the Rubik's Cube notation if you don't understand what the letters mean.
Lucas Etter