Santo Domingo Winter 2026 (Day 1/2)
Today is the first day of the Santo Domingo Winter 2026 speedcubing competition! Also known as the day where Karl just can't make the cut (mostly).
For this competition I'm competing in the same events as SD Otoño 2025, but the schedule this time is slightly different as 4x4 is on Day 1 instead of Day 2, meaning that the only events tomorrow will be 3x3 and 2x2. But as for today, I competed in Skewb, Megaminx, 4x4, and Square-1.
The first event I had was Skewb where I performed pretty well, albeit kinda inconsistently. My first solve was a great 4.64 (second best official time yet!), then a pretty good 6,41, then a bad 10.47, then a "meh" 8.31, and lastly another decent 6.50. This resulted in a 7.07 average, which definitely could have been better, but it is my second best official Skewb average yet, so I'll definitely take it!
Unfortunately (kind of, I don't really care) this would be the only average I completed today.
After that was Megaminx, where they reduced the cut-off to 1:35. I got a pretty good 1:41.51, which is my third best official solve yet, but then I absolutely fumbled the second solve and struggled to find pieces for a while, so I ended up with a pretty bad 2:18.04.
A similar story happened with 4x4. My first solve was a very good 1:04.28, which is my second best official solve to date, but then I got kind of lost in the second one and got a mediocre 1:13.03, which isn't too bad for me but — of course — didn't make the cut whatsoever.
And lastly there was Square-1, which in most other competitions would've gone fine, but unfortunately the cut-off this time was the lowest one yet: 35 seconds. My first solve was a 1:01.43 where I messed up during edge permutation, but my second was a pretty good 44.50 despite having parity. But yeah, definitely not enough to make the cut, even in the previous competition.
So yeah, today wasn't exactly a great day when it came to results, but I tried my absolute best! Which is the most I am ever looking for.
And, of course, it's been extremely delightful aside from all that. Of course seeing my cubing friends again, but also having a competition in Galería 360 again, which despite not being a traditional venue I do really enjoy the fact that people who aren't familiar with cubing can watch and learn about the hobby directly, which is something that I haven't really seen replicated anywhere.
And, of course, seeing the design I made, not just in the posters around but also in the pins that there are in every competition! I made the design with the fact that it would look great on a pin also in mind, and it sure does!
Tomorrow will be an exciting day as well, and I am ready!
