A 21-year-old from California set the Guinness World Record for solving a Rubik’s Cube in 3.13 seconds on June 11.
Max Park beat the previous world record of 3.47 seconds set four years ago by China’s Yusheng Du in Long Beach, California, the Daily Mail reported.
Park posted a video of his feat on his Instagram account which has garnered over 31,000 likes and over one million views. He has competed and won in over 400 events, and he was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Speed Cubers.
Diagnosed with autism at two years old, Park’s parents Schawn and Miki introduce him to the Rubik’s Cube to help him develop his fine motor skills.
“He couldn’t open water bottles so we were constantly looking for something that made him strengthen his fine motor skills,” Parks said. “We had a Rubik’s Cube around the house and he was showing interest.”
They started entering him in competitions so that he could improve his social skills. Through competing, Park learned how to shake hands with the other opponents.
“Him becoming good at cubing was just an afterthought,” the parents said. “It actually wasn’t even considered. It wasn’t even important.”
Park won his first cubing competition against graduates from MIT and CalTech, Today reported.
“As parents of an autistic child, we’ve seen firsthand how life-changing cubing has been toward Max’s personal growth,” his father said. “We’re so proud of him for his jaw-dropping feat, and we hope this encourages further acceptance, understanding and appreciation for talents within the autistic community.”