People · China
Zhen Yuan (袁桢)
3×3 · top 6.0% of 284,439 all-time · competing since June 2015 · 2015YUAN01
Zhen Yuan (袁桢) has been competing for 11 years. His best event is the 3×3: a personal-best single of 9.47, set at Hangzhou Open 2026, puts him in the top 6.0% of the 284,439 people who have ever been ranked in the event, and 2,326th in China. Until February 2008, no official 3×3 solve in the world had been that fast. Across 17 competitions since June 2015, he has put 412 official solves on the record across eleven events. Solve to solve, his 3×3 times vary about 13% around a typical one, steadier than 50% of the 35,811 competitors with ten or more counted rounds. His 3×3 best has come down from 16.73 in June 2015 to 9.47, a 43% improvement. Zhen has entered 17 competitions, more competitions than 96% of everyone who has ever competed.
Standing, event by event
vs everyone ever ranked| Event | PB single | PB average | All-time standing | China | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3×3 | 9.47 | 11.29 | top 6.0% | 2,326 / 28,153 | |
| 5×5 | 1:01.05 | 1:09.28 | top 6.1% | 285 / 2,816 | |
| 4×4 | 35.52 | 44.13 | top 7.2% | 727 / 5,926 | |
| 6×6 | 1:50.87 | 2:07.97 | top 7.5% | 166 / 1,349 | |
| 3×3 one-handed | 14.75 | 17.92 | top 7.6% | 737 / 5,922 | |
| 7×7 | 3:02.90 | 3:22.36 | top 11.5% | 226 / 1,261 | |
| 2×2 | 2.96 | 5.63 | top 13.8% | 2,145 / 15,796 | |
| Pyraminx | 6.41 | 9.49 | top 23.1% | 2,636 / 10,224 | |
| Clock | 10.96 | 12.68 | top 29.9% | 700 / 1,843 | |
| Skewb | 7.86 | 10.36 | top 40.2% | 2,386 / 5,004 | |
| Megaminx | 1:51.77 | — | top 41.3% | 1,170 / 1,678 |
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
- 19 Apr 2025Three personal bests in one day at Deqing Spring 2025.
- 8 Feb 2025Seven personal bests in one day at Chengdu Spring Open 2025.
- 3 Aug 2024Three personal bests in one day at Xi'an Open 2024.
- 30 Mar 2024First sub-10 3×3: 9.97 at Huzhou Open 2024.
- 30 Mar 2024Three personal bests in one day at Huzhou Open 2024.
- 14 Jul 2023First sub-15 3×3: 11.31 at Vietnam Championship 2023.
Competitions
- Hangzhou Open 2026 · 23 May 2026 — 1 personal best set
- Deqing Big & Blind 2026 · 25 Apr 2026
- Xianju NxN 2026 · 7 Mar 2026
- Guangzhou Big Cubes 2025 · 21 Dec 2025
- Hangzhou Winter 2025 · 29 Nov 2025
- Zhengzhou Summer I 2025 · 23 Aug 2025
- Taizhou Open 2025 · 26 Jul 2025 — 1 personal best set
- Lishui Open 2025 · 25 May 2025 — 2 personal bests set
- Nanchang Spring 2025 · 26 Apr 2025 — 2 personal bests set
- Deqing Spring 2025 · 19 Apr 2025 — 3 personal bests set
- Chengdu Spring Open 2025 · 8 Feb 2025 — 7 personal bests set
- Deqing Small Cubes Summer 2024 · 25 Aug 2024 — 1 personal best set
- Xi'an Open 2024 · 3 Aug 2024 — 3 personal bests set
- Huzhou Open 2024 · 30 Mar 2024 — 3 personal bests set
- Vietnam Championship 2023 · 14 Jul 2023 — 5 personal bests set
- Nanchang Winter 2015 · 27 Dec 2015 — 4 personal bests set
- Nanchang Open 2015 · 14 Jun 2015
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.
- Ruimin Yan (颜瑞民) — met in 58 rounds, finished ahead 34 times
- Zhedong Wang (王哲栋) — met in 54 rounds, finished ahead once
- Yiming Lin (林伊铭) — met in 50 rounds, finished ahead twice
Next targets
- A sub-8 3×3 single — 7,931 people have one; it is 1.47 away.
- A sub-1:00 5×5 single — 2,252 people have one; it is 1.05 away.
Targets move as he improves.