Blindfolded competitors try to solve Rubik's Cubes during the World Championship in Sao Paulo. Photo / Getty Images
Blindfolded competitors try to solve Rubik's Cubes during the World Championship in Sao Paulo. Photo / Getty Images
Many are familiar with the Rubik's Cube puzzle, but few have completed it - without peeling off the stickers.
However, competitive cubing is a sport to some and a young Australian has just taken out the Rubik's Cube World Championship for the second time.
19-year-old Feliks Zemdegs solved the puzzlein an extremely tense 5.695 seconds at the finals in San Paulo. With fingers moving like lightening, he flings the cube on the table victoriously at the end. The look on his face clearly says, "My work here is done."
"Because I won last time, I was sort of less nervous this time because I had already won one so that sort of helped a bit, but yeah it was obviously really cool," Zemdegs told the Daily Mirror after collecting his prizes.
He hasn't beaten the world record yet though - that's still claimed by American Collin Burns who completed the puzzle in 5.25 seconds.
The World Championship event consists of 17 different Rubik's Cube competitions - most involving the standard cube size of 3x3x3, but some using alternate cubes with sizes from 2x2x2 all the way to 7x7x7.
There is even an event where competitors wear blindfolds and complete the 3x3x3 entirely in the dark, adding a new level of challenge.
The first Rubik's Cube World Championship took place in Budapest in 1982 and the competition is now held every two years.
The popular toy was first invented by Hungarian professor Emo Rubik in 1974, as a way to challenge his architecture students. It reached the height of its mainstream popularity in the 1980s, but is still widely known and used.
