Do you think solving Rubik’s Cube is difficult? Try doing it while falling from a plane

The hardest part about solving a Rubik’s Cube while falling from a plane at 200 kilometers per hour is trying not to think about your possible death, says Tom Kopke.

“To focus on solving Rubik’s Cube, you need to relax and not think, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die, I’m going to die,'” said Kopke, a German YouTuber. As It Happened host Nil Kӧksal.”That was practice.”

This practice paid off when Kopke broke a Guinness World Record “Fast time to solve the rotating puzzle cube while in freefall.”

He jumped off a plane in Mossel Bay, South Africa, on Feb. 17, and solved the puzzle in 22.333 seconds before pulling his parachute, beating the previous record of 28.250 seconds set in 2023 by Australia’s Sam Sieracki.

‘You just walk into the cube’

Kopke, a 23-year-old medical student currently living in Johannesburg, says solving the problem is simple. He started the hobby when he was 18 and describes himself as “a really strong cuber.”

On average, he says, it takes him about 15 seconds, or nine on a good day. But freedom, he says, adds complexity.

“Normally, when you settle down, you have absolutely no wind resistance,” he said. “If you fall from the sky, you must hold it tight.”

To prepare, he says, he solved a cube on his couch while listening to wind sounds on his headphones.

He also had to learn to scuba dive, a process he began about five weeks before his filming attempt.

On the big day, he came out with two teachers, one to hold him, the other to pass him the cube. The ear would ring when he reached a certain point, which indicated that it was time to leave the cube and pull his parachute.

It took him four years to beat the record, breathing on his stomach so he could focus on the work he was doing.

“It’s straightforward,” Kopke said. “You just locked in the cube.”

He is studying to be a doctor, at the moment

Kopke is studying to become a doctor, but says his true passion is extreme sports and YouTube.

His channel is full of top stories, including a few Rubik’s Cube challengesand pictures of the time he won Gloucester’s cheese-rolling race, a notoriously dangerous British event where participants push themselves down the hill in search of a running wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.

His next goal, he says, is to beat the record for the most Rubik’s Cubes solved while running a marathon. Although, he admits, he has exams coming up and has to take a break from his plans to study.

“Yes, my family wants me to be a doctor, but I think my heart is in YouTube with all the crazy happenings and adventures,” he said. “So I think, one day, I’m going to have a hard time talking to them.”