Rubik's WCA European Championship 2026

2026-07-16 ~ 2026-07-19

This was my first in-person major and i'm honestly really happy with how i did. My goal for this comp was to not go above 23 on any solve and hopefully get a top10, which i did. Overall I missed 1.33 on the set which is a bit better than average for me and 0.67 from my drs which is a bit bad but it's ok. On a1 i did miss some things but this was expected due to it being my first solve at a major and so many other good people getting a 23 as well softened this a lot. Then the miss on a2 was much worse and essentially cost me second place, but my final solution was so cool that i honestly don't mind, as I've said in the solve comment i regret not finding 22 from my htr more than i do missing the dr for 21. And then a3 couldn't have gone better, getting a 19 in the first half of the attempt and being one of only 5 people to contribute to the woaj on this solve(the least number of people to do so out of the 3 solves). Congrats once again to Krzysztof for winning with an insane solution on a1 and to Rogo and Moritz on the second place with very solid a2 and a3. Thanks to everyone whom i got to compete against, I'm so happy to finally have met in person so many people I've been talking to on discord for ages. Hopefully we get to meet again🙂

Final

#8Mean21.67Single19 (23 / 23 / 19)

Attempt 1

Scramble

R' U' F U' F2 U2 L2 F2 D L2 R2 B2 L2 B D' R' U L2 F' U' R2 F U R' U' F

Results

U2 L2 B' R' B' R B' U2 F2 B' U2 F2 D2 R2 B' L2 D2 R2 F2 L' U' L F2

(F2 L' U)
(L) U2 L2 B' R' B' R // 9+5 -> 10 4c3 ext
B' U2 B D2 B2 D2 R2 B'
L2 D2 R2 F2 // 22 S, +1

~40 eos checked. Apparently this is not optimal from dr, if you insert R2 before the second qt there is a 3move finish and +0 bruh:
R B' R2 U2 F L2 F2 R2 U2 F' R2 L2 B2 L' (14)

Very wierd scramble. Despite being a 4/4/4 with a billion 4movers, from my analysis there are only 3 distinct findable 21's:
F' L2 D2 B'                      // eofb      (4/4)
U' R'                            // arlr-eofb (2/6)
L2 U R2 U                        // drlr-eofb (4/10)
L' D2 L2 F2 U2 L B2 R' B2 U2 R'  // fin       (11/21)

B' R2 D2 B                     // eofb       (4/4)
U                              // rzplr-eofb (1/5)
R2 D2 R U2 R' U'               // drlr-eofb  (6/11)
F2 R2 F2 L' B2 L' U2 B2 L2 D2  // fin        (10/21)

(F2 L' U)                     // eoud       (3/3)
(L' R2 F')                    // rzplr-eoud (3/6)
(L R2 F L F')                 // drlr-eoud  (5/11)
(L U2 R D2 R U2 R2 D2 R' U2)  // fin        (10/21)

The first one is from the dr everyone got their 21 i assume, but out of these 3 i do think that the third one is the most reasonable due to L' leading to fake jzp on that axis, which i did notice and try to solve but for some reason i didn't try L' R2 before rzp into 3c2e. Despite being a 2c4 in 11 i think the 21 is reasonable to find due to the sheer blockyness of the dr, and the first htr you try gives a 2e+slice in 19

Other drs:
U2 F2 R2 F
R2 U2 B2 U' B2 R // 10 4b5

U2 F2 R2 F
R2 U D' B2 D B2 R // 11 2c3 2e

(L F D' L)
R2 D' F L2 D2 B // 10 4b5, apparently this has a 22 that won Krzysztof the comp, props to him for finding it

(D' L2 F2 L)
(F) U R2 B2 U2 D B' // 11 4b2 4e with htr in 16 but bad

July 22, 2026 1:15 PM GMT+8

Attempt 2

Scramble

R' U' F R D2 B' F2 R2 D' L2 F2 U2 B' L F' D' L U B' U' F' R' U' F

Results

L' B' D2 L F' U L2 F2 R2 D2 L' D L' B2 R' L U' D' B2 D2 L2 B2 R2

L' B' D2 L F'
U L2 F2 R D L' // 11 2c4
L D' R D2 L' D R // 7-5/13 to HTR-1s
(U D' F2 R2 B2 R L' B2 R L') // 23-2 E, +2 :(

~50 eos checked

It felt so cool finding this in the first 15ish minutes, and this is SO CLOSE to being a 21 by transfering U D' to a different spot for a 21, but it just doesn't work. The only way to get a 22 from this htr is this, which i don't know as a case but totally should've found by trying pensuke on R/L axis but i didn't consider it due to focusing on double slice and only doing it on F/B:
(U D' L2 D2 L2 F2 U2 B2 U2 L2) // 23 E, -1

I also had this dr which has an easy 22 which i found by mistakenly thinking it rzp into 4c4e, but i didn't expore it because i marked it as dr in 11 bruh:
(D) R2 F2 U'
L (F' R' F' U2 R') // 10 2c3 4e

Also had a 23 from extending this to 11:
(L' D F2 B' R)
R2 U2 B2 U' B // 10 4b2 4e

But of course the thing that everyone found that i didn't was this(only 21 on the scramble as far as i can see), which i think i would've likely found if i hadn't spent 20 minutes on htr in "14" before checking the eo and still thinking about it:
(D L' R U')                         // eoud       (4/4)
                                    // rzpfb-eoud (0/4)
(B D2 B' R2 B L')                   // drfb-eoud  (6/10)
(F2 U2 B' L2 U2 B' U2 L2 F2 L2 F2)  // fin        (11/21)

Sucks to miss this of course, especially since it essesntially cost me second place, but my solution feels so cool that i kinda don't even mind not getting the 21, i regret not getting optimal from htr more than i do missing the dr for 21

July 22, 2026 1:26 PM GMT+8

Attempt 3

Scramble

R' U' F L F L' R' D2 U2 F2 R' D2 R' D R' F' D' L2 B2 F R' B' R' U' F

Results

F2 R2 U2 D' R L' F' B L2 D2 F' L2 U2 B' D' L2 U F2 B2

F2 R2 D' L' R
(F2 B2 U' L2 D) // 10 4b2 4e
(F R2 U2 F)
(L2 U2 L R' U2 R L') // 21-4 S, +2 :(

I think i ended up checking around 20-25 eos

I found the dr at 12ish minutes and had this 21 at 15ish minutes due to it being the first combo of variations i tried:
F2 R2 D R L
(F2 B2 D' B2 U')
(R2 U2 F' L2 U2 F') // 16 M+S but it's +3 +2 lol

I ended up finding the 19 at around 25 minutes and spent much of the remaining time trying to improve it due to 17 to slice, but apparently this is human findable on the scramble so yay

Only other dr i had due to finding it before the one with 19:
R L' B
U D (F2 B2 D' B2 D) // 10 4b2 4e

July 22, 2026 1:32 PM GMT+8