What was your biggest achievement in 2023? For Sam Sieracki, achieving his childhood dream of becoming a Guinness World Records Holder was definitely up there!
For the majority of people, attempting to solve a Rubik's cube is a challenge difficult enough. Although there are no official statistics for the percentage of people who can solve a Rubik's cube, when put into a Google search, the figure of 5.8% appears, so if you are one of the elite few in cubing terms, you can definitely give yourself a pat on the back.
Now, let's add in pressure to solve the cube in the least amount of time, and while we're at it, let's add in the fact you need to solve the cube whilst in freefall. Sounds quite ambitious, right? This is where Sam Sieracki comes in.
Where It All Began
Sam started speed-cubing in 2017, initially to impress his friends at school and then taking it a bit more seriously, entered competitions whenever he could. When he started out, his record to solve a Rubik's cube on the ground was around 30 seconds. The previous record for solving a rotating puzzle cube whilst in freefall was 30.14 seconds, completed by accomplished speed-cuber, Nitin Subramanian, whilst doing a tandem skydive. Sam wanted to achieve it solo.
"I decided I wanted to be a solo skydiver, so I waited impatiently to turn 16, so I could become a licensed skydiver and go by myself"
Once his sixteenth birthday came around, Sam completed his AFF course at Skydive Jurien Bay in Western Australia. After well and truly catching the "skydiving bug", Sam worked as much as he could around school to allow him to jump on weekends and during holidays, working up to the 80 jump mark in his second year of skydiving.
The Build Up
With some skydiving experience behind him, alongside encouragement from his family and girlfriend, Sam knew it was time to combine his new found passion with his existing passion for speed-cubing, in an attempt to achieve his dream record.
He reached out to DailyPuzzles Australia, who agreed to supply the Rubik's cubes and Sam got to work. His record to solve a Rubik's cube on the ground is now 6.5 seconds, but with the addition of falling out of a plane with 200km/h of wind in his face, solving the cube would be a lot more difficult in freefall.
Record Day
On 22 April 2023, Sam drove up to Jurien Bay, meeting Heath Baird and Benjamin de la Carrera, who were on camera duties for the record attempts.
With perfect weather conditions, allowing the jump run and spot to position Sam over unpopulated shrubland, and a controlled and approved environment, Sam’s attempts commenced.
The record guidelines stated that Sam needed to use a different cube for each attempt, and with five cubes on him that day, the pressure was definitely on for the fifth attempt.
With the loud and confronting distraction of the wind, along with the pressure of retaining a very firm grip on the cube and not dropping it, Sam was extremely relieved when the fifth attempt was successful, solving the Rubik's cube in an incredible 28.25 seconds! He celebrated with Heath and Ben in the sky before deploying is parachute and landing safely, still with the completed Rubik's cube intact.
"Having attended speed-cubing competitions since 2017, I was confident about breaking the record, but it ended up being far more challenging than expected and took me five attempts to achieve"
New Guinness World Record
After waiting patiently for a few months, Guinness World Records officially recognised and approved Sam's record in October 2023, making Sam an official Guinness World Records holder!
Record: Fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube whilst in freefall
Time: 28.25 seconds
Who: Sam Sieracki
Where: Australia (Jurien Bay)
When: 22 April 2023
With this amazing achievement under his belt, Sam remains very humble and grounded.
"Still being a rookie, I don't have any huge goals for skydiving. Just to keep on improving my skills with each jump and having a great time"
Having recently achieved his Star Crest, we look forward to seeing where Sam's skydiving journey takes him, and what other passions he might be able to combine with it along the way. Congratulations Sam!
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[Photo/Video Sources: Sam Sieracki, Heath Baird, Benjamin de la Carrera, Rubik's, Breitbart News]