A fast and exciting start in Speichersdorf

Day one of the competition is off to a fast and exciting start in Speichersdorf, Germany. Over 250 stackers from 21 countries took on the preliminary stage of the competition as well as the head-to-head relays. The four debutant countries, which included Belgium, Malta, the Netherlands, and Poland all saw their stackers placing highly in the standings.

Familiar faces finished at the top of the charts as William Orrell’s 1.448 second 3-3-3, Josh Hainsel’s 1.942 second 3-6-3 and 5.814 second Cycle, making them the fastest males in the competition so far. Si Eun Kim finished at the top at all three individual events with a 1.643 second 3-3-3, 2.055 second 3-6-3, and 5.743 second cycle. This is the first time in recent WSSC history that the fastest prelim cycle time was set by a female stacker. Josh Hainsel and Zhewei Wu stacked the quickest Double cycle in 6.943 seconds which was about a second behind the world record time. The team of Nicolas Werner, Fabian Kaiser, Dennis Grimm, Son Nguyen, and Fabian Gosslau – named ‘Team Germany 18U Hyped’, distanced themselves from the pack and stacked a 14.112 second Timed 3-6-3 Relay.

After a slow start, Team USA will join the likes of Denmark, Germany, and Korea in the International Challenge semi-finals tomorrow. Three out of the four semi-finalist from last year’s International Challenge return for another chance at the competition culminating event. Germany will take on USA where Denmark have to put up a fight with Korea.

The party continues tomorrow with the timed finals where stackers seek a spot on the grand stage in the Stack of Champions. Everyone is excited to see who will rise to the occasion with regional, national, and world records on the line.

Check out the full day 1 prelim results below and some photos from the day: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153756191378509.1073741836.133432633508&type=3

Individuals