People · United States
Ken Lai
3×3 · top 4.0% of 284,439 all-time · competing since August 2025 · 2025LAIK02
Ken Lai has been competing for a year. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 8.64, set at Cube Against Cancer Houston 2026, puts him in the top 4.0% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 2,277th in the United States. Until July 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 4 competitions since August 2025, he has put 121 official solves on the record across nine events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 19% around a typical one, an early reading from 9 counted rounds. His 3×3 best has come down from 13.07 in August 2025 to 8.64, a 34% improvement. Ken has entered four competitions, more competitions than 78% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3×3 | 8.64 | 9.22 | top 4.0% | 2,277 / 59,724 | |
| Pyraminx | 4.21 | 5.07 | top 8.7% | 2,243 / 28,708 | |
| 2×2 | 2.98 | 6.38 | top 14.0% | 5,504 / 40,951 | |
| 4×4 | 48.40 | 58.14 | top 22.6% | 3,429 / 19,072 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 20.78 | 24.76 | top 22.7% | 2,909 / 15,683 | |
| Clock | 9.85 | 11.86 | top 24.4% | 1,868 / 8,927 | |
| Skewb | 6.59 | 8.68 | top 30.4% | 5,011 / 18,907 | |
| Megaminx | 1:37.28 | 1:58.04 | top 32.9% | 2,326 / 7,841 | |
| Square-1 | 34.19 | 58.16 | top 57.1% | 3,770 / 6,743 |
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
Best single per competition, 3×3. Faster is higher — the axis is the right way up.
The story so far
- 18 Apr 2026First sub-10 3×3: 8.64 at Cube Against Cancer Houston 2026.
- 18 Apr 2026Three personal bests in one day at Cube Against Cancer Houston 2026.
- 9 Aug 2025First competition: Houston Back to School 2025. A 13.07 3×3 single to start from.
Competitions
- Cubing at COTA 2026 · 27 Jun 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Cube Against Cancer Houston 2026 · 18 Apr 2026 — 3 personal bests set
- Space City Fall TX 2025 · 19 Oct 2025 — 2 personal bests set
- Houston Back to School 2025 · 9 Aug 2025
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.
- Griffin Egan — met in 22 rounds, finished ahead 7 times
- Kyumin Shim (심규민) — met in 22 rounds, finished ahead 6 times
- Jayden Nguyen — met in 22 rounds, finished ahead 5 times
Next targets
- A sub-8 3×3 single — 7,931 people have one; it is 0.64 away.
- A sub-4 Pyraminx single — 9,892 people have one; it is 0.21 away.
Targets move as he improves.