A six-year-old girl from Chengdu, China, has set the women's world record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube — and then broke her own record just days later. Lian Yunzhi, nicknamed "Zhizhi", achieved average solve times of 4.52 seconds and then 4.27 seconds across two World Cube Association certified competitions held in Wuhan and Guangzhou this month, making her the first female speedcuber in history to average under 4.5 seconds.

In competitive speedcubing, a participant's score is calculated as the average of five consecutive solves, weeding out outliers to reflect consistent performance. Footage broadcast by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Lian, wearing a red gingham bow in her hair, rapidly turning and twisting the coloured puzzle before placing it on the table, clapping her hands, and pumping her fist in the air upon completion.

Lian was first introduced to the Rubik's Cube after her mother, Lin Yangxi, enrolled her in a variety of extracurricular classes including dance and music. Lin told local outlet Red Star News that she gradually recognised cubing as an "excellent activity for fostering a child's comprehensive abilities" and directed her daughter's energy toward it. The six-year-old now practises two to three hours a day and has mastered more than 1,300 solving algorithms. Trophies from her competitions are displayed on a shelf at home.

"Solving a Rubik's Cube improves focus, memory, logical thinking, spatial awareness, and helps develop a healthy mindset toward winning and losing," Lin said, adding that success in the sport is "not just about blindly memorising formulas, but using logical reasoning to find optimal solutions."

The achievement is a remarkable milestone in a sport that has grown rapidly in recent decades, with China producing many of the world's top competitive cubers. Lian's records stand as the fastest women's averages ever officially certified, and at six years old, she has set a standard that seasoned competitors many years her senior have yet to match.