This Filipino Teen Is Asia's Fastest Speedcuber
Leo Borromeo is a rising star. The fourteen-year-old native of Cebu set the Asian record in the sport of Rubik’s Cube solving (also known as speedcubing) last January 7, 2023. He averaged a staggering 5.24 seconds to sit atop the continental throne while also setting a new Philippine record with a superb 4.31 seconds single solve which puts him 14th fastest in the world. His average is also ranked fourth in the world.
His performance at the Cebu New Year Open 2023 was just the latest addition to the accolades he collected in his competitive history dating back to 2015 when he started taking the sports seriously at the young age of eight.
Rubik’s cube is a 3D puzzle invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. It’s a twisty puzzle that has become a global sport since the World Cube Association (WCA) organized the first-ever World Rubik's Games Championship in 2003. The sport rose to prominence over the years with regular competitions held around the world and with global brands also investing in the speedcubing competitions. A young seven-year-old Leo was one of the kids who got carried away by the hype of speedcubing.
Leo Borromeo, Asia's Fastest Speedcuber at 14 Years Old
Borromeo revealed to Esquire Philippines that it was actually simple videos on YouTube that piqued his interest in going competitive in this type of puzzle-solving.
“I was watching YouTube when I saw videos of Feliks Zemdegs. Seeing those videos made me want to solve it as fast as him,” recalls Leo about a memory a year before he entered his first WCA competition.
Zemdegs is a legend among the world’s fastest speedcubers, having won the World Championship title two times and setting more than 100 world records from 2010 to 2019. Inspired by the feat of the Australian legend, who became a world record holder at the age of 12, Borromeo made it a mission to emulate his idol’s legacy. To improve, he watched more YouTube videos and continued watching Zemdegs to learn tips and techniques.
“I was practicing a lot, around five hours a day,” he recalls.
12-Year-Old Leo Borromeo Outmoves Two-Time World Champion Feliks Zemdegs
Luckily for Borromeo, he found a mentor in his native province of Cebu.
“I accidentally met Kuya JB at a bar to watch my dad play music with his band. Kuya JB saw me cubing and then he introduced me to the Cebu speedcubing community,”
The guy Borromeo was referring to is James Benedict Cañares, another Filipino speedcuber who held the Philippine national speedcubing records from 2007 to 2008. This accidental interaction paved the way for Borromeo to finally meet other competitive speedcubers in the province and get his first taste of competitive action.
Cañares became his first mentor as Leo finally joined his first competition in 2015 at the age of eight where he averaged a few seconds below 40 seconds and finished 28th out of 31 participants.
It could have been disappointing for some to finish near the end of the rankings but Borromeo continued to surge. Less than a year later, he broke the sub-10 seconds barrier, registering a 9.76-second single-solve at Cebu Masters 2016.
There was no stopping Borromeo from there as he easily became the top dog in the province, beating some of his peers who are a decade older, including his mentor JB.
Then in late 2016, he set a personal best 9.70 seconds average that garnered recognition nationally being a nine-year-old cubing sensation. He was invited to ABS-CBN’s Little Big Shots where he showcased his skills, solving 30 Rubik’s Cube in a short span of time.
Leo Borromeo at the 2018 Asian Speedcubing Championship in Taiwan
During the Visayas Championship 2017, Borromeo finally nabbed one of his biggest achievements to date with a pair of national records, posting a 5.96-second single-solve and a 7.51-second average.
A year later, Borromeo went on to finish second at the WCA Asian Championship 2018 in Taiwan before finally getting his first Asian record with a 6.37 seconds average solve at Bonifacio Memorial 2018 in Cebu. With his impressive progress since starting his competitive speedcubing career, many thought Borromeo was bound for greatness not only in the Philippines but also in the world.
But not everything went as planned as Borromeo faltered during the WCA World Championship 2019. Many participants from across the globe expected him to be one of the top contenders in the global event in Australia, but sadly, he only reached the semi-finals and finished 22nd overall. Only the Top 16 in the rankings qualified for the head-to-head finals where his fellow Filipino representative Sean Patrick Villanueva finished second, just 0.04 seconds behind eventual world champion Philipp Weyer of Germany.
“One of the biggest struggles in my career was during the World Championships 2019 when I didn't make it to the finals. I was really sad because I really wanted to be in the Top 3 in that competition,” said Borromeo.
“After that, I was just practicing a lot and then I improved.”
Leo Borromeo and Feliks Zemdeg
True to his word, he went home and reset with a more focused mindset. Not even the global pandemic in early 2020 stopped him from improving as he continued training at home, eventually taking the championship at the Monkey League Season 2 in late 2020, an internationally live-streamed online speedcubing tournament where he managed to beat his idol Feliks on the way to the title.
He proved that his pandemic victory over Feliks was no fluke as he flew all the way to Australia for the Rubik's WCA Oceanic Championship in December 2022 where he took the two championships home to the Philippines.
But Borromeo is still far from finished. He’s already had three Asian records and a massive 22 national records but he’s still aiming for the top—a world championship title and world record for the Philippines.
"If you really want to reach the top level, you really have to keep practicing. Always try to improve and try to learn new things, such as algorithms. And don't be afraid to ask fellow cubers for help.”
