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People · United States

Adam Gradess

3×3 · top 1.4% of 284,439 all-time · competing since December 2014 · 2014GRAD03

Adam Gradess has been competing for 12 years. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 7.06, set at Slow N Steady UMD Fall 2024, puts him in the top 1.4% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 855th in the United States. Until November 2010, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 65 competitions since December 2014, he has put 2,450 official solves on the record across 15 events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 12% around a typical one, steadier than 79% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds. His 3×3 best has come down from 14.23 in December 2014 to 7.06, a 50% improvement. Adam has entered 65 competitions, more competitions than 99% of everyone who has ever competed.

3×3
best event — top 1.4% of 284,439 all-time
7.06
signature single · Slow N Steady UMD Fall 2024
2,450
official solves on the record
12%
solve-to-solve spread · steadier than 79% of the field

Standing, event by event

vs everyone ever ranked
EventPB singlePB averageAll-time standingUnited States
3×37.068.93
top 1.4%855 / 59,724
Pyraminx2.255.52
top 1.6%422 / 28,708
2×21.582.32
top 2.5%989 / 40,951
4×430.3334.72
top 3.0%488 / 19,072
Megaminx46.1954.32
top 3.5%257 / 7,841
5×558.311:06.30
top 4.7%388 / 9,401
6×61:44.021:56.68
top 5.2%177 / 4,196
3×3 one-handed13.6618.98
top 5.5%769 / 15,683
7×72:54.433:01.37
top 9.1%251 / 3,184
Skewb3.987.66
top 10.8%1,657 / 18,907
Square-117.1122.57
top 21.2%1,417 / 6,743
3×3 blindfolded2:29.87—
top 43.2%920 / 2,092
3×3 Fewest Moves44 moves—
early days — 2 solves1,310 / 2,040
Clock28.1731.04
top 82.0%7,278 / 8,927
4×4 blindfolded33:49.00—
early days — 1 solve435 / 440

Percentile against all competitors ever ranked in each event, a fairer measure than raw rank, because the pools differ by a factor of ten.

The line so far

Red Cross Cubing Open 2014: 14.23Doylestown Spring 2015: 12.90US Nationals 2015: 12.66Liberty Science 2015: 13.57Slow N Steady Winter 2016: 10.46Princeton Winter 2016: 11.53Severna Park Spring 2016: 11.59Big Apple Spring 2016: 11.16Cube For A Cure Spring 2016: 11.24US Nationals 2016: 10.24New York City Summer 2016: 11.07Princeton Fall 2016: 10.34Rockville Winter 2017: 9.62New York City Winter 2017: 10.81Slow N Steady Spring 2017: 9.81Big Cube Bash 2017: 9.82CubingUSA Nationals 2017: 10.28Incredible Pencil Mania 2018: 9.59Lower Moreland Spring 2018: 9.04CubingUSA Nationals 2018: 10.64Pennsylvania 2018: 8.80Slow N Steady Summer 2018: 8.75Lower Moreland Fall 2018: 10.03CubingUSA Nationals 2019: 10.26Slow N Steady Summer 2019: 8.68Solving Hunger Virginia 2019: 9.56TJHSST Fall 2019: 9.14Scranton Scramble 2020: 10.22Slow N Steady Winter 2020: 11.04Slow N Steady Fall 2021: 7.76Slow N Steady Spring 2022: 8.36River Hill Spring 2022: 9.16CubingUSA Northeast Championship 2022: 8.33St. Joseph's Prep 2022: 8.01Think In Fink Fall 2022: 7.70Slow N Steady Fall 2022: 8.90River Hill Fall 2022: 8.35Penn Cube Day Spring 2023: 7.15Potomac Spring 2023: 8.34Cougar Qualifier 2023: 9.26CubingUSA Mid-Atlantic Championship 2023: 8.88CubingUSA Nationals 2023: 8.07Pretzel Mania Summer 2023: 8.74Slow N Steady Fall 2023: 9.07Slow N Steady Spring 2024: 8.38Christmas City Cubing PA 2024: 8.42Penn Cube Day Fall 2024: 8.14Slow N Steady UMD Fall 2024: 7.06Pop Off Princeton 2025: 8.27Rutgers Winter 2025: 8.34PA-retzel Mania Winter 2025: 8.18PBs in Palisades Winter 2025: 8.47Slow N Steady UMD Spring 2025: 8.37King of Prussia Spring 2025: 8.55Rubik's WCA World Championship 2025: 9.64Bucks County Cubing PM 2025: 9.25CubingUSA Mid-Atlantic Championship 2025: 8.33Slow N Steady UMD Fall 2025: 8.14Christmas City Cubing PA 2025: 8.25Penn Cube Day Fall 2025: 8.537.0614.2313 Dec 20142 Nov 2025

Best single per competition, 3×3. Faster is higher — the axis is the right way up.

The story so far

Competitions

Reading this page: a single is one solve's time · an average is the middle three of five solves, best and worst discarded · a PB is a personal best · a DNF (did not finish) is an attempt with no valid result: a popped piece, an unsolved face, an over-limit memorisation · top X% compares against everyone ever ranked in that event, which is fairer than raw rank because event pools differ tenfold.

The circuit

The people whose scorecards keep turning up next to his.

  • Livia Kleiner — met in 325 rounds, finished ahead 46 times
  • Will Callan — met in 297 rounds, finished ahead 51 times
  • Dana Yi — met in 273 rounds, finished ahead 47 times

Next targets

  • A sub-6 3×3 single — 1,376 people have one; it is 1.06 away.
  • A sub-2 Pyraminx single — 1,476 people have one; it is 0.25 away.

Targets move as he improves.