A 20-year-old from the Netherlands just set a new Rubik's Cube world record of 4.74 seconds
Rubik's Cube mastermind Mats Valk set a new world record over the weekend at the Jawa Timur Open in Indonesia.
Valk, 20, managed to break the existing record of 4.90 seconds, set last year by 14-year-old Lucas Etter, with a blistering time of 4.74 seconds.
Valk spent more time examining the cube than he spent actually moving things around.
Here's Valk's winning solve in action.
The Rubik's Cube world record has fallen precipitously since the first record was set in 1982, at a glacial time of 22.95 seconds. As FiveThirtyEight reported last year, Etter's 2015 time of 4.90 seconds put him in the lonely position of being the only sub-5.o0 time in Rubik's Cube history.
Now Etter has some company in Valk.
The method of puzzle-solving these guys compete in is known (fittingly) as "speed-cubing." They have such an intimate understanding of the algorithms that lead to a solved cube that just a quick glance at the starting position gives them all the information they need. All that stands in their way is how well they've oiled the gears of the cube itself.
Other notable records from the Jawa Timur Open were Feliks Zemdegs' average time (over three solves) of a 6x6 cube at 1:37.85 and Kaijun Lin's blindfolded solve of a 3x3 in 18.50 seconds.
Here's Valk's solve in all its glory: