A nine-year-old boy from Sholing has qualified for the Rubik's Cube World Championships.

Jacob Melotti, a pupil at Sholing Junior School, will be the youngest person from the UK to compete in the event in July.

The competition, which is held every two years, will see 2,000 competitors from across the globe take part.

Jacob qualified at the UK National Championships in November 2024 and will now compete in seven events, including the 3x3 one-handed event.

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His fastest ever time at the traditional 3x3 Rubik's cube is 10.74 seconds.

Jacob will compete in a number of events at the Rubik's Cube World Championships - not just the traditional 3x3 cube.Jacob will compete in a number of events at the Rubik's Cube World Championships - not just the traditional 3x3 cube. (Image: Ollie Thompson/Solent News) "It's nuts, it's really nuts," his dad Rob Melotti said.

"Jacob has learned so much from cubing, like how to memorise algorithms, how to organise his time for practice, discipline, note-taking, meeting other people, giving and receiving advice, so many skills.

"It took a long time to teach him how to solve his first cube, but since then, he's just been going faster and faster, learning more and more tricks and skills along the way."

Jacob only learned how to solve a Rubik's cube in November 2023 but has since studied, memorised and even invented his own algorithms to improve his times.

Jacob competing at Speed Cube competitions.Jacob competing at Speed Cube competitions. (Image: Family/Solent News) The nine-year-old can still qualify for another events at the World Championships if his times are good enough.

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"We only just scraped in qualifying time wise but we’ve got one more competition coming up before this," Rob said. 

"In two weeks we’re going to be in Edinburgh for the Scottish Championships, he can do the 5x5 cube there. 

Jacob could still qualify for another event.Jacob could still qualify for another event. (Image: Ollie Thompson/Solent News) "If his time is fast enough there, then he can possibly take part in that competition in the world’s as well. There’s still potential that he can end up doing another event."

Funds are being raised to cover the flight costs for Jacob and his dad through a GoFundMe and the sale of a special "Jacob Goes to Worlds" puzzle cube which is available to pre-order.

Rob said: "Seattle is a long way but we’re staying with a friend for free so we’re just trying to raise money for the travel, that’s over £700 each, we’ve put it on the credit card and crossed our fingers in hopes we can pay off."