Lucas Etter, a ninth-grader at Henry Clay High School, has set what is largely considered the most coveted and recognized world record in the speedcubing community. His time for a single solve of the Rubik’s cube 3x3 – only 4.90 seconds – was marked on Nov. 21 during a World Cube Association-sponsored competition outside of Baltimore, Md. His time will be a Guinness World record as well after the two-month application process, according to his mother, Dana Mendenhall-Etter, a LAN/WAN technician for Fayette County Public Schools.
Lucas practices various cubes daily, but specializes in the 2x2 (for which he holds the world record average), 3x3 and 4x4. A competitor since age 9, he attributes his success to algorithm memorization, spatial skills, muscle memory and lots of practice.
Archived feature article from 2011