Think solving a Rubik’s Cube is hard? Try doing it while freefalling from a plane

The hardest part about solving a Rubik’s Cube while plummeting from an airplane at 200 kilometres per hour is trying not to think about your potential demise, says Tom Kopke.

“In order to be focused on solving a Rubik’s Cube, you need to be relaxed and not thinking about, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die, I’m going to die,'” Kopke, a German YouTuber, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.”That took some practice.”

That practice paid off when Kopke beat the Guinness World Record for “fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube whilst in freefall.”

He leapt from 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 lock in on the cube’

Kopke, a 23-year-old medical student currently living in Johannesburg, says solving the puzzle is the easy part. He started the hobby when he was 18 and describes himself as a “quite solid cuber.”

On average, he says, it takes him about 15 seconds, or nine on a good day. But freefalling, he says, adds some complicating factors.

“Normally, when you solve on the ground, you have no wind resistance at all,” he said. “When you’re falling in the sky, you have to really grip it tight.”

To prepare, he says, he would solve the cube on his couch while listening to wind sounds on his headphones.

He also, of course, had to learn how to skydive, a process he began about five weeks prior to his record attempt.

On the big day, he went out with two instructors, one to hold onto him, and another to pass him the cube. An earpiece would beep when he reached a certain altitude, signally it was time to abandon the cube and pull his parachute.

It took him four attempts to beat the record, belly-up with the wind at his back so he could focus on the task at hand.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Kopke said. “You just lock in on the cube.”

Studying to be a doctor, for now

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

His channel is full of high-stakes adventures, including several Rubik’s Cube challenges, and footage of the time he won Gloucester’s cheese-rolling race, a notoriously dangerous British event in which participants lob themselves down a steep hill in pursuit of a rapidly rolling wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.

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

“Of course, my family wants me to become a doctor, but I think my heart is in YouTube with all the crazy experiences and adventures,” he said. “So I think, one day, I will have a hard talk with them.”