15-year-old Crimson Arradaza sets Philippine 3x3x3 one-handed speedcubing record

Crimson Arradaza needed 5.33 seconds to solve a 3x3x3 one-handed cube in Tagaytay City, a time that broke the Philippine record by 0.33 seconds and undercut the 5.66-second benchmark held by Switzerland’s Dhruva Sai Meruva. The run came during the Philippine National Speedcubing Open, where the pressure was not just on one solve but on the country’s first nationally endorsed speedcubing competition.

The meet ran at the Tagaytay City Sports Complex and Tagaytay City Combat Sports Center, drawing 72 cubers and giving the event a scale that mattered beyond a single headline result. Organizers used the weekend to push speedcubing as part of the country’s growing mind sports community, and they paired the competition with a national summit and AMSA referee certification training. They said they were pleased with the response because “many Filipinos are now taking up the cube.”

Arradaza’s result also stood out because it was not the kind of one-off flash that disappears after a lucky scramble. The 15-year-old from Baguio City already had 26 competitions on his World Cube Association record, and his listed 3x3x3 one-handed personal best before Tagaytay was 6.49 seconds. That background makes the 5.33 much more than a tidy improvement. It was a leap, and it came from a solver who had already logged enough sanctioned competition to know how to hold nerve under the clock.

The wider significance is in the structure around him. The Philippine National Speedcubing Open was framed by Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the Asian Mind Sports Association as the country’s first nationally endorsed speedcubing competition, with a strategic cooperation agreement signed in March 2026 to help build standards, rankings, referee training, and a deeper pipeline for future meets. The event program covered 3x3x3 cube, 2x2x2 cube, Pyraminx, 3x3x3 one-handed, and 3x3x3 blindfolded, with a team relay exhibition folded in as well.

For Baguio’s cubers, Arradaza’s run is the sort of result that changes what feels possible. A 5.33 in one-handed does not just put one teenager in the record book. It shows that the Philippine scene is starting to produce national-level talent through local competition, formal training, and a calendar that now has room for serious one-handed specialists to emerge.