Six-year-old breaks women’s Rubik’s Cube record twice

Six-year-old Lian Yunzhi has lowered the women’s world record for the average time to solve a standard 3×3 Rubik’s Cube to 4.27 seconds, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. She is the first female competitor to record an average below 4.5 seconds.

The milestone came at a World Cube Association-certified competition in Guangzhou on 14 September. Just two days earlier, she had set a record of 4.52 seconds at another certified event in Wuhan. Both results came from rounds of five solves, making this a test of repeated performance rather than one fast attempt.

Lian, who is from Chengdu, first encountered the puzzle in an extracurricular class, alongside activities such as dance and music. Her mother, Lin Yangxi, told local media that she now practises for two to three hours a day and has learned more than 1,300 sequences of moves used to solve the cube.

Her mother emphasised that solving the puzzle involves logical reasoning, not simply memorising moves. The concentration also leaves room for delight: in footage shared by CCTV, Lian finishes a solve, puts the cube down, then claps and pumps a fist.