Tymon Kolasiński is a well-known and respected cuber from Poland, and he recently broke the 3x3 Average World Record with a series of amazing solves.
He broke the record at a competition in December 2021, Cubers Eve Lubartów 2021, in his home nation, Poland. He got 5 incredible solves in the second round of the 3x3 competition, these being a 4.73, 4.83, 5.24, 6.57 and 5.20. Due to how WCA averages work, his 4.73 and 6.57 solves were eliminated from the average as they were his best and worst solves, respectively.
Current Standings
The record was previously held by Max Park, of the US, and was beaten by an astounding 0.23 seconds. For comparison, the previous gap was 0.16 seconds between Max Park and Ruihang Xu.
Below is listed the top 10 record holders of this event.
At the moment the fastest single solve record is held by Yusheng Du with 3.47 seconds.
The Solves
Throughout all 5 solves, Tymon uses wide moves to avoid rotations that would have interrupted the flow of the solve. He also does one xxcross, two xcrosses and two normal crosses. Interestingly, his worst solve was one of the xcross ones, where you would expect it to be a normal cross one.
This was an astounding average and I hope to see a sub-5 average very soon!
Watch the video on the Tymon's Youtube channel
First: 4.73 [best]
This was his first and fastest solve, being 50 moves long and having him turning at 10.57 TPS (turns per second).
According to the WCA regulations, the best and worst times are dropped from the five solves and the average of the remaining 3 times gives the final result.
Scramble: F R F' R L D' L F2 U' F' D2 R2 U2 F2 R B2 L B2 L' D'
The scramble has an easily noticeable white cross, but Tymon decides to make a xxcross on yellow, which is not something that I would see at all, but it ends up working out very nicely. He does a y rotation for inspection, and then solves the xxcross with F R' D' R2 U R' d R U' R' u R' U' R u, leaving him with only the back right and front left F2L pairs to solve. He does this with U R' U2' R U R' U' R to make the back right pair, and then does y' U' R U' R’ to insert the already made front left pair. This gives him a very good OLL, r U R' U R U2' r' (wide sune) and once he does that, he sees that it is a G perm which he solves with U' R2 U R' U R' U' R U' R2 D U' R' U R D'. His use of wide moves in the xxcross to save rotations is a big reason as to why the solve is so fast.
Reconstruction:
y // inspection
F R' D' R2 U R' d R U' R' u R' U' R u // xxcross
U R' U2' R U R' U' R // 3rd pair
y' U' R U' R' // 4th pair
r U R' U R U2' r' // OLL
U' R2 U R' U R' U' R U' R2 D U' R' U R D' // PLL
Second: 4.83
This was his second solve, in which he did 49 moves at 10.14 TPS.
Scramble: L2 B' L U D L' U2 F2 D' F D L2 F2 B2 U2 B' U2 R2
The yellow cross on this solve is much more obvious, and Tymon does a y’ rotation for inspection. There is a yellow pair already made in the front right after the rotation, which he does preserve with his cross solution U' F2 R2 u' R u'. He can then insert the pair with a simple R' U R and then rotates to solve the second pair y' R' U R into the remaining back slot. He then rotates again to solve the third pair with y' R' U' R U R' U2' R. For the fourth pair, he decides not to rotate and instead solves it with F moves mostly, doing U F' U' F U R U' R'. He now decides to do a 2GLL, which is a last layer solution that does OLL and PLL all with only R and U moves. This is very good, as R and U moves can be done very fast with minimal or no regrips (where you temporarily let go of the cube to change your hand’s position on it). The 2GLL he does is U2’ R U R' U R U2' R' U' R U R' U R U2' R' U2'.
Reconstruction:
y' // inspection
U' F2 R2 u' R u' // cross
R' U R // 1st pair
y' R' U R // 2nd pair
y' R' U' R U R' U2' R // 3rd pair
U F' U' F U R U' R' // 4th pair
R' U' U R U' U' R U R' U R U2' R' U' R U R' U R U2' R' U2' // 2GLL
Third: 5.24
His third solve was his worst solve that counted towards the average. He did 49 moves at 9.35 TPS.
Scramble: L U2 R2 F2 U R2 U F R' B2 R B D2 R' F' L2 D'
This is another scramble where the yellow cross is easily visible, and there are 2 pre-made pairs.
He does no rotations for inspection and makes an xcross with one of the pairs, but he has to break the other R' u' F2 R L2 U2 L'. He rotates to solve the second pair, and solves it with y' U' R U2’ R2' U' R. Tymon also makes the third pair in this sequence. The third pair is simply inserted with y U2 L' U L, leaving the back right pair as the last remaining one. This is not normally what you would want, but Tymon handles it well, doing a wide d move to avoid a full rotation d' R U R' U R U' R'. He is not greeted by a good OLL, but he solves it well, r2' D' r U r' D r2 U' r' U' r, leading to many top solvers’ favourite PLL, an A perm. x R' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 is the PLL algorithm he uses, ending solve 3 of the average. The algorithm is not the normal A perm algorithm, in which you hold the last layer facing you, but the opposite, where the last layer is facing away. I don’t know if this is his normal algorithm, but it seems unlikely, which means that he saw the annoying rotation and decided to try a reverse A perm in an average that could, already at this point, be a world record. That is impressive.
Reconstruction:
R' u' F2 R L2 U2 L' // xcross
y' U' R U' R' R U' R2' U' R // 2nd pair
y U2 L' U L // 3rd pair
d' R U R' U R U' R' // 4th pair
r2' D' r U r' D r2 U' r' U' r // OLL
x R' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 // PLL
Fourth: 6.57 [worst]
Solve 4 was his worst overall solve, at a 6.57. Being the worst of 5, this solve was not counted towards the final average. It was 52 moves, which he executed at 7.91 TPS.
Scramble: L' U' F2 U2 B R' F2 B2 D2 L2 D' R2 U' R2 U R2 U R D
Nothing jumps out on this scramble except the pair in the back bottom right, and he makes an xcross on yellow with it L F' L' U' L D2' U' L F'. He goes straight into his second pair with no rotation, doing u U' R U' R' D'. Tymon’s third pair is a 2 gen L and U pair, which he does easily. U' L' U2 L2 U L'. The fourth pair takes him more moves than would be expected, but he is setting up for a 2GLL. U' L' U L U R' F R U' R' F' R. This leaves him with a nice R and U 2GLL which he does R U2' R' U' R U' R' U2 R' U2' R U R' U R.
Reconstruction:
L F' L' U' L D2' U' L F' // xcross
u U' R U' R' D' // 2nd pair
U' L' U U L2 U L' // 3rd pair
U' L' U L U R' F R U' R' F' R // 4th pair
U' U R U2' R' U' R U' R' U U R' U2' R U R' U R // 2GLL
Fifth: 5.20
Tymon’s fifth and last solve was solid to end it off. Nothing insane, but still impressive. He did 49 moves at 9.42 TPS.
Scramble: B R U' F U' R2 F' D2 R2 F U2 F L2 U2 B2 U2 L' F
He changes things up for this solve and does the blue cross, which looks quite easy. He does x' z2 for inspection, and then just makes the cross in 5 moves with U' R' L' U D'. He can now easily do the first and second pairs in 6 moves with L' U2 L2 U' L'. Tymon’s third pair is a 2 gen R and U sequence. R U' R' U R U' R' U R' U' R. His fourth pair seems obvious, but Tymon makes it a bit longer so that he can do a ZBLL. U' R' F R F' R U' R2' F R F is what he does, and it is still rotationless. He finishes the solve off with a nice ZBLL U' R' U' R' D' R U2 R' D R U R U' R' U' R.
Reconstruction:
x' z2 // inspection
U' R' L' U D' // cross
L' U U L2 U' L' // 1st and 2nd pairs
R U' R' U R U' R' U R' U' R // 3rd pair
U' R' F R F' R U' R2' F R F' // 4th pair
U' R' U' R' D' R U2 R' D R U R U' R' U' R // ZBLL
Read the comments on the Speedsolving forum: https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/tymon-kolasinski-5-09-3x3-average.85949/
Tymon Kolasiński
Article written by J8Cubes