Sean Patrick Villanueva once again came through for the Philippines, securing the country’s inaugural world championship title by emerging victorious in the 3x3x3 One-Handed event at the World Rubiks Championships held in Incheon, Korea.
This marked the Philippines’ first world title, following previous second-place finishes by Durben Virtucio (4x4x4 Cube) in 2009 and Villanueva (3x3x3 Cube) in 2019.
The 15-year-old prodigy outshone 482 participants in the event, achieving an astonishing 9.42 seconds average in the finals.
Claiming the second position was France’s Juliette Sébastien, who secured a 9.65 seconds average, while Luke Garrett of the United States clinched the third spot with a 10.00 average.
Villanueva, currently a student at Ateneo High School, attained a second-place finish in the initial round of the 3x3x3 Cube event and a 13th place in the subsequent round, earning him a spot in the final round for the world title.
Additionally, he was a key member of the Filipino trio that earned a second-place finish in the Nations Cup event of the World Championship.
Meanwhile, Leo Borromeo, Toby Litiatco, and Villanueva made history yesterday when they delivered Philippines’ first podium finish, taking the runner’-up in the Rubik’s Nations Cup of the on-going WCA World Championship in Incheon, Korea.
The trio made do with Team Philippines’ promise of improving on their 2019 finish where the Filipinos, bannered by Boromeo, Villanueva, and Brenton Angelo Lo Wong, finished tied for 5th-8th after getting eliminated by eventual world champions Germany.
The fourth-seeded Team Philippines had a relatively smooth-sailing ride first taking down Japan to open their tournament campaign then eliminating Germany 2 and Canada 1 in the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, respectively.
The teenage trio then pulled off a massive upset in the semi-finals after beating tournament favorites United States 1, led by current world record holder Max Park, by clocking in a total time of 18.74 seconds against 22.89 seconds.
They finished with an almost similar 18.91 seconds record in the finals but China 1 dropped a massive 17.00 seconds finish to take the world title.
