Feliks Aleksanders Zemdegs (, lv, Fēlikss Zemdegs; born 20 December 1995) is an Australian

Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...

speedsolver. He is the only

speedcuber Speedcubing (also known as speedsolving, or cubing) is a competitive sport involving solving a variety of combination puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. An individual who practices solving tw ...

ever to win the

World Cube Association The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combin ...

World Championship twice, winning in 2013 and 2015, and is widely considered the most successful and greatest speedcuber of all time. He has set more than 350 records across various speedcubing events: 121 world records, 210 continental records, and 6 national records.

Biography

Feliks Zemdegs is of Latvian descent and his maternal grandmother is Lithuanian. Zemdegs bought his first speedcube in April 2008 after being inspired by speedcubing videos and tutorials on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The first unofficial time he recorded was an average of 19.73 seconds on 14 June 2008. He has been using CFOP to solve the 3×3×3 since he was 12 years old, the Yau method to solve the 4×4×4 and 5x5x5, the CLL method to solve the 2×2×2, and the Reduction method for 6x6x6 and 7×7×7. Zemdegs won the 3×3×3 event at the first competition he attended, the New Zealand Championships 2009 on 18 July 2009, with an average of 13.74 seconds in the final round. He also won 2×2×2, 4×4×4, 5×5×5, 3×3×3 blindfolded, and 3×3×3 one-handed. At his next competition, the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Summer Open 2010 on 30 January 2010, Zemdegs set his first world records for 3×3×3 average and 4×4×4 average, with times of 9.21 seconds and 42.01 seconds, respectively. He held the 3×3×3 average world record continuously from then until 23 April 2017, improving it 8 times, eventually to 6.45 seconds. The most world records he has ever held at one time is 12, in May 2011. As recently as 28 January 2017, he held 11 of those records concurrently. At the World Championship 2011 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Zemdegs won 2×2×2, 4×4×4, 5×5×5, and 6×6×6. He also took third in 3×3×3 after winning the first three rounds, and placed third in 7×7×7. At the World Championship 2013 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, Zemdegs won 3×3×3, 4×4×4, and 3×3×3 One-handed. He also placed second in 5×5×5 and third in 7×7×7. At the World Championship 2015 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

, Zemdegs won 3×3×3, 2×2×2, 4×4×4, and 5×5×5. He also placed second in 6×6×6, 7×7×7, and

Megaminx The Megaminx or Mégaminx (, ) is a dodecahedron-shaped puzzle similar to the Rubik's Cube. It has a total of 50 movable pieces to rearrange, compared to the 20 movable pieces of the Rubik's Cube. History The Megaminx, or Magic Dodecahedron, ...

. At the World Championship 2017 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, Zemdegs won 5×5×5 and 7×7×7. He also took second in 6×6×6, 3×3×3 One-handed, and Megaminx, and placed third in 4×4×4. At the World Championship 2019 in

, Zemdegs only podiumed in one event, getting third in 5x5x5. Zemdegs has a website, CubeSkills, which includes tutorials on solving the Rubik's Cube and other puzzles. There are free algorithm sheets, and some free speedsolving tutorial videos. The site also offers a premium membership, which enables access to advanced speed solving videos. Zemdegs attended St Kevin's College, Toorak and graduated in 2013 with a perfect study score in VCE English and an

ATAR Atar, Atash, or Azar ( ae, 𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭, translit=ātar) is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is considered to ...

of 99.90. Zemdegs has a Bachelor of Commerce from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

, majoring in economics, with a breadth study track in mechanical engineering. In 2020, Zemdegs was one of the primary subjects of the Netflix documentary '' The Speed Cubers''. , Zemdegs' YouTube channel has more than 475,000 subscribers.

World records

World records by Zemdegs.

Official personal records

Listed below are Zemdegs' personal records achieved in official World Cube Association competitions.

Media appearances

* 2 June 2009 –

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald ...

article (Australia) * 3 June 2009 – Channel 9 Today program (Australia) * 18 July 2009 – TVNZ 1 News (New Zealand) * 20 July 2009 – The Dominion Post article (New Zealand) * 21 January 2010 – Stonnington Leader article (Australia) * 17 July 2010 –

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

newspaper article (Australia) * 21 July 2010 – Herald Sun article (Australia) * 26 July 2010 –

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

video (Australia) * 27 July 2010 –

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

article (Australia) * 6 September 2010 – Melbourne Leader article (Australia) * 9 November 2010 – Test Australia: The National IQ Test solving demonstration * 16 November 2010 –

Ninemsn Nine.com.au (formerly Ninemsn) is an Australian news and current events website, owned by ASX-listed company, Nine Entertainment Co. It was originally established as a 50:50 joint venture between Microsoft and PBL Media (now Nine Entertainmen ...

article (Australia) * 19 November 2010 –

Yahoo News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...

video (United States) * 2 June 2011 – ABC Catalyst video (Australia) * 9 February 2012 – ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article (United States) * 30 November 2012 –

92.5 Gold FM Triple M Gold Coast (ACMA callsign: 4GLD) is an Australian radio station in Queensland. Owned and operated as part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M network, it broadcasts an Mainstream Rock format to Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Co ...

interview (Australia) * 3 May 2014 –

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

article (Great Britain) * 27 November 2014 – IOL South Africa * 23 July 2015 –

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

(United States) * 11 September 2015 – Sydney Morning Herald * 25 March 2016 – The Brain (China) game show *27 August 2017 –

Little Big Shots ''Little Big Shots'' (also known as ''LBS'') is an American variety television series co-created and produced by Steve Harvey and Ellen DeGeneres. The series features children demonstrating talents and engaging in conversation with the host. ...

show (Australia) * 29 July 2020 – The Speed Cubers - Netflix Documentary * 11 December 2021 –

Rubik's Cube's second coming (Great Britain)

References

External links

*
Feliks Zemdegs Reddit Questionnaire
(3 January 2013)
Feliks Zemdegs tutorial website
(14 March 2017)
How to Start Speedcubing by Feliks Zemdegs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemdegs, Feliks Living people 1995 births Australian speedcubers Australian people of Latvian descent Australian people of Lithuanian descent People from Melbourne