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People · United States

Calvin Nielson

Square-1 · top 0.17% of 25,272 all-time · competing since December 2014 · 2014NIEL03

Calvin Nielson has been competing for 12 years. His best event is the Square-1: a personal-best single of 4.66, set at Tokyo Winter 2025, puts him in the top 0.17% of the 25,272 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 21st in the United States. Until September 2020, no official Square-1 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 250 competitions since December 2014, he has put 9,236 official solves on the record across 16 events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 14% around a typical one; 74% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 22.75 in December 2014 to 7.41, a 67% improvement. Calvin has entered 250 competitions, more competitions than 99% of everyone who has ever competed.

Square-1
best event — top 0.17% of 25,272 all-time
4.66
signature single · Tokyo Winter 2025
9,236
official solves on the record
14%
solve-to-solve spread · wider than 74% of the field

Standing, event by event

vs everyone ever ranked
EventPB singlePB averageAll-time standingUnited States
Square-14.666.58
top 0.17%21 / 6,743
2×21.022.67
top 0.59%248 / 40,951
3×3 Fewest Moves20 moves24.33
top 1.0%28 / 2,040
3×37.419.37
top 1.9%1,113 / 59,724
Skewb2.544.71
top 3.1%465 / 18,907
Pyraminx2.975.38
top 3.5%938 / 28,708
Clock4.756.40
top 3.8%309 / 8,927
3×3 one-handed12.9217.81
top 4.3%631 / 15,683
4×434.6443.51
top 6.4%981 / 19,072
Megaminx1:02.111:09.66
top 11.1%752 / 7,841
5×51:11.591:24.03
top 12.8%983 / 9,401
3×3 blindfolded1:23.603:12.71
top 20.9%424 / 2,092
6×62:28.882:37.29
top 25.0%898 / 4,196
7×73:58.094:14.47
top 29.9%837 / 3,184
3×3 Multi-Blind2 of 2 cubes · 9:12—
early days — 2 solves479 / 731
4×4 blindfolded13:19.00—
top 71.8%296 / 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

Idaho Open 2014: 22.75Utah Pi Open 2015: 20.28BASC 7 2015: 18.20Utah Megacomp 2015: 18.39Idaho Speedcubing 2015: 16.23Utah Spring: Gotta go Fast 2016: 11.84Bay Area Speedcubin' 9 2016: 14.42Idaho Speedcubing 2016: 13.48Rexburg Cubing Open 2016: 14.05Utah Cubing for Charity 2017: 11.79Utah Megacomp II 2017: 13.41CubingUSA Nationals 2017: 15.61San Ramon 2017: 12.63Northwest Championships 2017: 12.94Utah Speedcube Speedoff 2017: 14.31Second Annual Rexburg Open 2017: 13.05Utah Winter Open 2018: 11.67Reno Winter 2018: 13.59Utah Spring Open 2018: 11.87Idaho Summer Open 2018: 14.27Utah Big Blind-off 2018: 13.54Potato Open 2018: 11.66CubingUSA Western Championship 2018: 10.81CubingUSA Nationals 2018: 11.19Wyoming Jackalope Dash 2018: 11.36Southern Utah Fall Open 2018: 10.34Idaho Spudcubing 2018: 11.51Utah Snowball Bash 2018: 12.45Utah Valley Open 2019: 11.95Reno Winter 2019: 11.08Utah Spring Open 2019: 10.58Utah's April Surprise 2019: 10.67Idaho Megacomp 2019: 10.77Colorado Qualifier 2019: 9.60Wyoming Summer 2019: 10.79Utah's California Gull Extravaganza 2019: 10.05CubingUSA Northwest Championship 2019: 10.82CubingUSA Nationals 2019: 10.06Back to School Idaho 2019: 10.16Resticker Utah 2019: 11.11Southern Utah Fall Open 2019: 9.82Boise 2019: 9.78Veterans Day Open 2019: 9.40Big and Skewb Utah 2019: 10.32Perfect Vision Provo 2020: 9.81Idaho Summer B 2021: 11.17Wyoming Summer 2021: 11.23BC Cubing Comeback A 2021: 8.28Utah Fall 2021: 10.50Missoula 2021: 10.69Pikes Peak Returns A 2021: 10.34CubingUSA Western Championship 2021: 11.74Idaho Spudcubing II 2021: 10.34Welcome Back Texas 2021: 10.75Utah Ice Cubing 2022: 8.79North Star Cubing Challenge 2022: 9.84DeNxNver 2022: 10.30Going Fast in Idaho 2022: 10.31Northern Colorado Cubing 2022: 10.36SacCubing XI 2022: 9.81Bay Area Speedcubin' 29 AM 2022: 9.68Pikes Peak Good Morning 2022: 11.13Cubing in Craig 2022: 10.27DFW Cubing Spring 2022: 9.51Utah Puzzling for Awareness 2022: 9.50Going Slow in Idaho 2022: 9.91Long Beach Spring 2022: 10.59Utah's California Gull Extravaganza 2022: 10.00CubingUSA Northeast Championship 2022: 9.06Wyoming Summer 2022: 10.23Berkeley Summer 2022: 9.17Three Attempts Chicago 2022: 10.65Slopeside Solving 2022: 9.40New York Championship 2022: 11.20Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2022: 12.06Idaho French Fried 2022: 10.19Southern Utah Summer 2022: 11.02Inland Empire Summer 2022: 9.92SnoCo Favorites 2022: 9.94Richmond Open Summer B 2022: 9.72Oregon Championship 2022: 11.00SacCubing XII 2022: 10.60Bellevue Cubing for Children's 2022: 10.22Pretzel Mania 2022: 7.92Texas BarbeCubing 2022: 9.86Gem State Side Events 2022: 9.58Hono Luau Cube Off 2022: 9.34Cube More in Ardmore 2022: 10.66WCC Western Championship 2022: 9.72New Kent On The Block 2022: 9.76Utah Championship 2022: 9.32Slow N Steady Fall 2022: 9.13Bay Area Speedcubin' 39 2022: 11.00SnoCo Veteran's Weekend B 2022: 9.37Burke Mountain Cubing 2022: 9.44Loon Cubikon 2022: 9.44Bay Area Speedcubin' 40 - San Ramon 2022: 9.25Utah Snowball Bash 2022: 10.54Back to Square-1 Idaho 2022: 11.03AZCubing Winter 2022: 10.45Cubing on the Octagon 2022: 9.99Lynnwood Winter 2023: 8.75DFW Cubing Winter 2023: 10.22Utah Ice Cubing 2023: 10.15Cubing Under the Northern Lights 2023: 10.50Bay Area Speedcubin' 41 2023: 9.24Sleepless in Seattle 2023: 9.68Cal Poly SLO Winter 2023: 10.29Berkeley Spring 2023: 10.24Utah Megacomp 2023: 10.06Bay Area Speedcubin' 43 2023: 10.19Cubing in the Valley 2023: 9.46The Legacy Begins 2023: 10.00Bay Area Speedcubin' 44 2023: 10.62BeCubed Spring 2023: 9.54DFW Spring Warmup 2023: 7.41DFW Cubing Spring 2023: 8.47Salt Lake Utah Summer 2023: 9.49Kent Spring 2023: 9.32Cal Poly SLO Spring 2023: 8.44Bay Area Speedcubin' 47 - Berkeley Pride 2023: 9.57Vegas Speedcubing Summer 2023: 10.04Bay Area Speedcubin' 48 - 6.25 Berkeley 2023: 10.10CubingUSA Western Championship 2023: 9.92Bothell Summer 2023: 9.26Arizona Speedcubing Summer 2023: 10.53CubingUSA Nationals 2023: 10.61Colorado Jungle Jumble 2023: 8.21Rubik's WCA World Championship 2023: 11.01Bay Area Speedcubin' 51 Live - SSF 2023: 10.54InTents Cubing Grand Canyon 2023: 9.83Lucky Lynnwood 2023: 9.72Bay Area Speedcubin' 53 - Berkeley 2023: 11.31Davis Fall 2023: 9.84Bay Area Speedcubin' 54 Live - SSF 2023: 10.07Utah Championship 2023: 10.02Berkeley Fall 2023: 10.25Claws Up Winter 2023: 9.77Utah Snowball Bash 2023: 10.55Reno Winter 2024: 8.99Bay Area Speedcubin' 55 - San Ramon 2024: 8.91SacCubing XVI 2024: 8.67Berkeley Winter 2024: 10.06Davis Winter 2024: 10.46Reno Spring 2024: 10.49Don't Turn SLOw Spring 2024: 9.68Bay Area Speedcubin' 58 - Berkeley 2024: 9.26Bay Area Speedcubin' 59 LIVE - SSF 2024: 11.03Bay Area Speedcubin' 60 - Mountain View 2024: 9.25EVO Sports Expo Cubing - Santa Clara 2024: 10.34Berkeley Spring 2024: 10.05Bay Area Speedcubin' 61 - San Jose 2024: 10.68Claws Up Final Touchdown 2024: 10.47Bay Area Speedcubin' 62 LIVE - SSF 2024: 10.24Berkeley Summer 2024: 10.03Bay Area Speedcubin' 63 - Atherton 2024: 9.12CubingUSA Northwest Championship 2024: 9.95Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2024: 10.30CubingUSA Western Championship 2024: 8.41Bay Area Speedcubin' 64 LIVE - SSF 2024: 9.37Bay Area Speedcubin' 65 - Berkeley 2024: 11.56Bay Area Speedcubin' 66 - Belmont 2024: 10.92Bay Area Speedcubin' 67 - San Ramon 2025: 10.17Berkeley Winter 2025: 11.50Bay Area Side Events Day 2025: 11.24EVO Sports Expo Cubing - Santa Clara 2025: 9.77SCU I: May the Fourth Be With You 2025: 9.89West Coast Cubing Western Championship 2025: 10.89Oregon Championship 2025: 9.25San Ramon Fall 2025: 8.73Berkeley Fall 2025: 8.34Berkeley December Weekday 2025: 12.02Tokyo Winter 2025: 9.64Berkeley March Weekday 2026: 8.29Berkeley Pre-Cal Day 2026: 10.62Belmont Spring 2026: 11.37SacCubing XXIII 2026: 10.05West Coast Cubing Western Championship 2026: 9.71Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2026: 11.30Bay Area Speedcubin' 69 2026: 8.487.4122.7527 Dec 201429 Aug 2026

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.

Next targets

  • A sub-4 Square-1 single — 11 people have one; it is 0.66 away.
  • A sub-1 2×2 single — 1,032 people have one; it is 0.02 away.

Targets move as he improves.