Quick Facts
Biography
Lucas Etter (born 2001) is an American speedcuber from Kentucky. He uses the CFOP (Fridrich) method for solving the cube.
His World Cube Association ID is 2011ETTE01.
Early life
Etter was born on 7 July 2001 in Lexington, Kentucky. He is a student at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky.
He was introduced to the cube at his grandparents' house. He took an interest in it and entered his first competition in 2011 at the age of 9.
Competitive speedsolving
Etter competed in the Music City Speedsolving in Nashville, Tennessee on 12 September 2015, and set the world record average for the 2x2x2 Rubik’s cube with 1.51 seconds.
On 21 November 2015, at the age of 14, he competed at the River Hill Fall 2015 competition in Clarksville, Maryland and set the world record for the fastest 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube single solve –– 4.904 seconds. This made him the first person to break the five second barrier in an official competition. The previous record was held by American speedcuber Collin Burns, who solved 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube in 5.25 seconds on 25 April 2015. On the day Etter broke the record Keaton Ellis, another American speedcuber, also broke Burns' record with a 5.09 second solve –– however, due to the official rules, Ellis's time wasn't recorded as a world record because Etter set the record in the same competition.
The following year, in July 2016, Etter entered the US National Speedcubing Championship held at the Columbia Conference Center in Portland, Oregon. He won the title for 2016 U.S. 3x3x3 Champion with an average of 7.54, and 2016 U.S. 2x2x2 Champion with an average of 2.18
Media
In an interview with Lexington Herald Ledger, Etter said he practices about an hour each day and memorizes algorithms, which form the sequences of moves.
Print media
- November 25, 2015 - Washington Post interview
- November 25, 2015 - Lexington Herald-Leader interview
- Lane, Tammy L. (July 18, 2014). "EJH eighth-grader ties world record in speedcubing". fcps.net. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- Lane, Tammy L. (October 28, 2011). "ACE fifth-grader gets rush from speedcubing". fcps.net. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
Television
Radio
- Williams, Phil (November 24, 2015). "Record-breaking teenager's tips on solving Rubik's Cube". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- January 8, 2012 - NPR interview