Ripon pupil puts Rubik’s skills to test

Year 7 student Kris Lim qualified for the prestigious European Championships in Copenhagen, where competitors gathered to determine who’s fastest at solving the popular puzzle.

The championship, hosted by the World Cube Association, saw 550 competitors go head-to-head as they solved puzzles such as the 7x7 and the original 3x3 cube, with one world and several national and continental records broken.

Kris, from outside Harrogate, solved a 3x3 in 10.72 seconds, his best score in a competition.

The 12-year-old is currently placed 96th in the UK in 3x3 one-handed with a time of 18.17 seconds.

He’s also 98th in the UK in 2x2 with a single solve of 1.99 seconds.

He spends an hour a day cubing and solved his first cube when he was eight years old, peaking at around one minute.

“I started getting faster when I was 11 and people thought it was cool,” said Kris.

“I can solve a 3x3 blindfolded too, although I haven’t done this at a competition yet.”

Kris added of the Championships: “The most enjoyable part at the competition was meeting other cubers, as cubing is a rare hobby.

“My ambition is to get a sub 10 3x3 average in a competition one day.”

The Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian professor Erno Rubik and has been sold over 350 million times worldwide.