1 year ago

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I wrote on here, but since I did a 2018 goals/predictions post, I thought it would be nice to revisit that and do one for next year.

Here are the goals I wrote at the start of the year:

I’d really like to keep all my competition averages below 7.5 seconds in 2018, but this might be a bit tricky. Hmm, not quite. 62/65 of my averages in comp were sub 7.5. I’m very confident that I’ll be able to get a pure sub 7.5 year in 2019, but that won’t be one of my specified goals. The stat I’m happier about this year is that 75% of my official 3x3 averages were sub 7.

I want to try and keep up with Max across all his disciplines, but if that’s proving impossible, then I’ll try and narrow my focus. Max is a beast, I’ve narrowed my focus a bit to 3x3, but I still find the other NxN events too enjoyable to make any drastic changes. Awesome hardware improvements in 6x6 and 7x7 are also great motivation to keep practicing.

Lastly, I’d like to keep improving my results across all WCA events (minus feet) and am looking forward to a battle with Jay to maintain the top spot in Kinchranks. Lol! That ‘battle’ lasted a few months, Mr Chapel and Mr Egdal are well and truly dominating here. Still, I was happy with some results in the events I don’t practice - new PBs in stuff like 2x2, Skewb, Square-1, 5BLD were all nice, and my one MultiBLD attempt for the year was also a PB!



And, here are the predictions I made at the start of the year.

Max Park will break more than a dozen world records in 2018, and claim US National Championship titles across all his main events (3x3-7x7 and OH). Boom! Should have been more generous with the WR count.

Sebastian will get a 4x4 world record single with parity. Close, but not quite.

All cubers on the Euros 3x3 podium will be over 20 years old. Nailed it! I just think that Mats, Phil and Seb are such excellent consistent competitors, and have been for a really long time, which is why I made this prediction. There isn’t anyone else in Europe with the speed or experience of these three, just yet.

The Nahm will break a world record! (Really hoping this one comes true) Sadly, no :(

Very easy to see, but by the end of the year, there'll be 5 people with >40 point MultiBLD results in competition. Only 4, but there is a 40 point result too.

There'll be another funny Kian storyline at CubingUSA Nationals. Maybe instead of jumping from 1st to 92nd, he'll place 92nd in the first round and end up winning the final. Not really, but he’s going to win OH at worlds next year.



So, on to my speedcubing goals for the year. I think that goals are most effective when they are in that slightly uncomfortable zone. Too easy and you won’t stretch yourself, too hard and you’ll get demotivated. I also like to keep the focus fairly narrow. I took a look at my old goals (since 2015), and of the quantifiable goals, I've actually only achieved 3 of 8. These are definitely stretch goals.

Besides general improvement and competition performance, my specific goals for this year are:

Given that it’s a World Championship year, I’d like to podium in 3x3-7x7 and OH. Given just how competitive speedcubing is becoming, and how much of a role variance can play, I think this will be exceptionally challenging, particularly for 3x3, 4x4, and OH. For example, at US Nationals 2018, I podiumed in 3-7, and Mega (not OH), and at Asian Championships 2018 I podiumed in 5-7, OH, and Mega. Not going to put megaminx on here for next year because I’m pretty sure JP, Nicolas and Amos are all attending worlds, so I’ll probably neglect megaminx a bit this time around.

Get the fastest official 3x3 average in competition for the calendar year of 2019. To complete this streak for the decade of 2010-2019 would be so sweet.

Now for the fun - prediction time!

Safe bet:

Max Park defends his US Titles for 3x3-7x7 and OH, as well as adds a US podium for megaminx.

Slightly Riskier:

By the end of the year:

5 people will have sub 6 3x3 averages.

5 people will have sub 10 OH averages.

5 people will have sub 20 3BLD means.

Crazy:

The difference between 1st and 4th place at Worlds will be less than 0.2 seconds.

Let me know if you have any goals or predictions for speedcubing this year :)