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The Middle Three
People → United States → Paul Sperling

People · United States

Paul Sperling

3×3 · top 4.5% of 284,439 all-time · competing since January 2015 · 2015SPER01

Paul Sperling has been competing for 12 years. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 8.82, set at Atomic Fools 2017, puts him in the top 4.5% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 2,481st in the United States. Until May 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 15 competitions since January 2015, he has put 403 official solves on the record across ten events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 14% around a typical one; 63% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 19.84 in January 2015 to 8.82, a 56% improvement. Paul has entered 15 competitions, more competitions than 95% of everyone who has ever competed.

3×3
best event — top 4.5% of 284,439 all-time
8.82
signature single · Atomic Fools 2017
403
official solves on the record
14%
solve-to-solve spread · wider than 63% of the field

Standing, event by event

vs everyone ever ranked
EventPB singlePB averageAll-time standingUnited States
3×38.8210.98
top 4.5%2,481 / 59,724
2×22.383.98
top 7.8%3,062 / 40,951
3×3 one-handed15.4221.54
top 9.0%1,194 / 15,683
Pyraminx6.639.62
top 24.9%6,789 / 28,708
4×458.571:08.19
top 34.9%5,619 / 19,072
Skewb9.1517.51
top 49.4%8,841 / 18,907
Square-130.8336.04
top 50.9%3,334 / 6,743
Megaminx2:35.893:21.40
top 64.0%4,876 / 7,841
5×52:39.602:57.44
top 70.3%6,169 / 9,401
3×3 blindfolded8:15.74
early days — 1 solve1,996 / 2,092

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

Rose City Cubing Competition 2015: 19.84Keep Portland Weird 2015: 19.73PDX Cubing Beta 2015: 15.70Oregon State Alpha 2016: 14.09Rose City 2016: 12.13US Nationals 2016: 11.54Oregon 2016: 10.89Puget Sound Fall 2016: 10.04PDX Cubing for Dougy 2016: 11.19Eugene 2016: 10.80Keep Portland Weird 2017: 10.44Atomic Fools 2017: 8.82Eugene 3x3 Mania 2017: 9.89Rose City 2017: 9.84CubingUSA Nationals 2017: 10.798.8219.8431 Jan 20157 Jul 2017

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-8 3×3 single — 7,931 people have one; it is 0.82 away.
  • A sub-2 2×2 single — 8,848 people have one; it is 0.38 away.

Targets move as he improves.