6-year-old Chinese girl sets women’s Rubik’s Cube speed record

BEIJING —

A 6-year-old Chinese girl has set a new women’s world record by solving Rubik’s cubes at an average pace of just over four seconds per cube.

Lian Yunzhi first broke the record earlier this month with an average time of 4.52 seconds at a World Cube Association-certified competition in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and improved to 4.27 seconds at another race in the southern city of Guangzhou, state broadcaster CCTV reported Monday. She became the only female speedcuber to achieve an average below 4.5 seconds, it said.

The association listed Lian on its website as the record holder for the fastest women’s average time solving the 3x3x3 cube.

Wearing a red hairband with a bow, Lian looked serious as her small fingers moved quickly during the Wuhan competition. She smiled proudly and clapped after one attempt took her only about 3.54 seconds.

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CCTV said Lian first tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube when she was 4 years old, and it used to take her 90 seconds to solve it. She initially lacked the confidence to compete, but became more enthusiastic about the puzzle as her results improved, and she gained recognition. That encouraged her to train harder and persevere through challenges, it said.

“She was an introverted kid. Now, she is very confident wherever she goes,” her mother Lin Yangxi was quoted as saying.

CCTV said Lian has mastered more than 1,300 solving formulas and recently spent roughly two to three hours daily on training. Her parents also brought her to Shanghai to learn from top coaches, it added.