People · United States
Nikolas Benko
2×2 · top 5.7% of 186,767 all-time · competing since August 2022 · 2022BENK01
Nikolas Benko has been competing for 4 years. His best event is the 2×2: a personal-best single of 2.13, set at Rubik's WCA World Championship 2025, puts him in the top 5.7% of the 186,767 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 2,260th in the United States. Until February 2008, no official 2×2 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 19 competitions since August 2022, he has put 338 official solves on the record across eleven events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 13% around a typical one; 59% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 32.39 in August 2022 to 14.90, a 54% improvement. Nikolas has entered 19 competitions, more competitions than 97% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2×2 | 2.13 | 5.53 | top 5.7% | 2,260 / 40,951 | |
| Pyraminx | 4.52 | 7.42 | top 10.3% | 2,692 / 28,708 | |
| 3×3 | 14.90 | 16.70 | top 24.1% | 13,088 / 59,724 | |
| Skewb | 6.30 | 8.80 | top 28.1% | 4,599 / 18,907 | |
| 4×4 | 1:17.21 | 1:40.02 | top 53.6% | 9,106 / 19,072 | |
| Megaminx | 2:30.36 | — | top 61.2% | 4,621 / 7,841 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 42.98 | 1:14.31 | top 69.3% | 9,932 / 15,683 | |
| Clock | 23.15 | 27.19 | top 72.8% | 6,313 / 8,927 | |
| Square-1 | 1:00.22 | — | top 83.8% | 5,621 / 6,743 | |
| 5×5 | 3:28.06 | — | top 86.0% | 7,978 / 9,401 | |
| 6×6 | 7:00.59 | — | early days — 3 solves | 3,979 / 4,196 |
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
- 2 Dec 2023Three personal bests in one day at UW or U Don't 2023.
- 10 Nov 2023Three personal bests in one day at SnoCo Veterans Day Weekend 2023.
- 10 Jun 2023First sub-15 3×3: 14.98 at Mill Creek 2023.
- 27 May 2023Three personal bests in one day at Kent Spring 2023.
- 10 Dec 2022First sub-20 3×3: 19.71 at Big Cubes in Bothell 2022.
- 10 Dec 2022Three personal bests in one day at Big Cubes in Bothell 2022.
Competitions
- Bellevue Cubing Afternoon 2025 · 13 Sep 2025 — 1 personal best set
- Rubik's WCA World Championship 2025 · 3 Jul 2025 — 1 personal best set
- Warm Up Seattle 2025 · 28 Jun 2025 — 1 personal best set
- Husky Pride Seattle 2024 · 15 Jun 2024 — 2 personal bests set
- Kent Spring 2024 · 25 May 2024 — 1 personal best set
- Kenmore Mini C 2024 · 17 Feb 2024 — 1 personal best set
- UW or U Don't 2023 · 2 Dec 2023 — 3 personal bests set
- SnoCo Veterans Day Weekend 2023 · 10 Nov 2023 — 3 personal bests set
- Lucky Lynnwood 2023 · 30 Sep 2023 — 2 personal bests set
- Kent Summer 2023 · 9 Sep 2023
- SnoCo Has Too Much 3x3 2023 · 12 Aug 2023
- Bothell Summer 2023 · 8 Jul 2023 — 2 personal bests set
- Mill Creek 2023 · 10 Jun 2023 — 2 personal bests set
- Kent Spring 2023 · 27 May 2023 — 3 personal bests set
- Bothell Spring Open 2023 · 17 Mar 2023 — 1 personal best set
- Big Cubes in Bothell 2022 · 10 Dec 2022 — 3 personal bests set
- SnoCo Veteran's Weekend A 2022 · 11 Nov 2022 — 2 personal bests set
- SnoCo NxN 2022 · 24 Sep 2022 — 1 personal best set
- Bellevue Cubing for Children's 2022 · 27 Aug 2022
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.
- Mihir A. Rai — met in 69 rounds, never finished ahead
- Sebastian Valdes — met in 66 rounds, finished ahead 5 times
- Anishk Arora — met in 64 rounds, finished ahead 4 times
Next targets
- A sub-2 2×2 single — 8,848 people have one; it is 0.13 away.
- A sub-4 Pyraminx single — 9,892 people have one; it is 0.52 away.
Targets move as he improves.