People · Angola
Paulo Alberto Zambo Manuel
3×3 · top 4.6% of 284,439 all-time · competing since July 2025 · 2025MANU03
Paulo Alberto Zambo Manuel has been competing for a year. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 8.90, set at Mina de Água NxN 2026, puts him in the top 4.6% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 5th in Angola. Until May 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 5 competitions since July 2025, he has put 122 official solves on the record across four events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 15% around a typical one; 82% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds hold a tighter spread. His 3×3 best has come down from 9.94 in July 2025 to 8.90, a 10% improvement. Paulo has entered five competitions, more competitions than 83% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | Angola | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3×3 | 8.90 | 10.56 | top 4.6% | 5 / 94 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 19.34 | 23.26 | top 18.8% | 6 / 30 | |
| 4×4 | 49.63 | 1:03.14 | top 24.2% | 7 / 23 | |
| 2×2 | 3.91 | 5.49 | top 25.3% | 14 / 58 |
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
- 29 Nov 2025Three personal bests in one day at Portugal Championship 2025.
- 5 Jul 2025First competition: Arroios Summer 2025. A 9.94 3×3 single to start from.
Competitions
- Mina de Água NxN 2026 · 30 May 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Seomara Cube Fest 2026 · 18 Apr 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Arroios Winter 2026 · 7 Feb 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Portugal Championship 2025 · 29 Nov 2025 — 3 personal bests set
- Arroios Summer 2025 · 5 Jul 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.
- Gabriel Dias Barahona Fernandes — met in 22 rounds, finished ahead once
- Xingyu Zhu (朱星宇) — met in 21 rounds, never finished ahead
- Diogo Miguel Alves Guerreiro — met in 20 rounds, finished ahead 7 times
Next targets
- A sub-8 3×3 single — 7,931 people have one; it is 0.90 away.
- A sub-15 3×3 one-handed single — 5,987 people have one; it is 4.34 away.
Targets move as he improves.