You’re right — he has actually lowered the record again since Brighton. Here’s an updated version centred around the Manchester result:
Ben Stokes Breaks UK 3x3 Blindfolded National Record Again with 15.61
UK blindfolded specialist Ben Stokes has continued his incredible progression in 3x3 Blindfolded after setting a new United Kingdom National Record single of 15.61 seconds at Manchester Cubing League – Second 2026. (worldcubeassociation.org)
The solve improves on his previous national record of 15.95 seconds, which had only been set a few weeks earlier at Brighton 3x3 Day 2026. (worldcubeassociation.org)
For non-cubers, 3x3 Blindfolded is one of the most difficult official WCA events. Competitors are given time to memorise a scrambled cube before putting on a blindfold and solving the entire puzzle from memory. The timer includes both memorisation and execution, meaning a 15.61 solve represents an astonishing combination of recall speed, accuracy, and turning speed under pressure.
The record solve came in the final round at Manchester, where Ben produced an incredibly fast successful solve alongside several risky attempts while clearly pushing for even faster times. (worldcubeassociation.org)
Breaking 16 seconds officially places Ben among an extremely small group of elite blindfolded solvers worldwide. Modern blindfolded solving has evolved dramatically over the past decade, with top competitors developing highly optimised memorisation systems using letter pairs, image associations, and advanced execution methods to minimise pauses during the solve.
What makes Ben’s progression especially impressive is how rapidly he has lowered the UK record over the past few years:
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18.72 NR at the UK Championship 2022
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16.78 NR in 2023
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15.95 NR at Brighton 2026
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Now 15.61 NR at Manchester 2026
The pace of improvement shows just how competitive blindfolded solving has become internationally. Times that once seemed impossible are now being achieved increasingly regularly by the world’s top solvers.
Ben has established himself as one of the strongest blindfolded competitors in UK history, consistently dominating British competitions in the event while also competing across a wide range of other WCA disciplines. In addition to 3x3 Blindfolded, he has competed successfully in events including Multi-Blind, Clock, and standard 3x3 speedsolving. (worldcubeassociation.org)
The result is also another sign of the overall rise in UK cubing standards. British competitors are now achieving national records and internationally competitive results across many different events, with several UK cubers beginning to challenge near the very top of European rankings.
With Ben continuing to improve rapidly, the question now becomes just how much lower the UK blindfolded record can go. A sub-15 official solve — once viewed as almost unimaginable — now appears genuinely possible.
While it is certainly not official and I certainly don't advice people attempt this, Ben Stokes also did a 3x3 blindfolded centurion 2 days prior to his new national record and was successful on 93 of the 100 attempts, while this may not seem too crazy at first, once you realise what a centurion actually entails it becomes much more impressive...
The centurion consists of scrambling the cube, doing a solve and drinking one shot of beer every minute for 100 minutes, Ben Stokes was likely pretty drunk at the end and yet still managed to keep successfully solving the cube blindfolded.
You can view Ben Stokes’ full WCA profile and official results here:
