--- title: The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World | TIME description: With the fastest cup-stacking hands in the world, 11-year-old Steven Purugganan set a new record in sport stacking competition canonical: https://time.com/video/7wOckW2r/ og:title: The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World og:description: With the fastest cup-stacking hands in the world, 11-year-old Steven Purugganan set a new record in sport stacking competition og:url: https://time.com/video/7wOckW2r/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7wOckW2r/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World twitter:description: With the fastest cup-stacking hands in the world, 11-year-old Steven Purugganan set a new record in sport stacking competition twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7wOckW2r/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World [Watch (HLS stream): The Speediest Sport Stacker in the World](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7wOckW2r.m3u8) (4:15)  _Published 2009-04-16. With the fastest cup-stacking hands in the world, 11-year-old Steven Purugganan set a new record in sport stacking competition_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:08 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [These Are the World's Most Valuable Sports Franchises](/video/nAzltEGP/) ### These Are the World's Most Valuable Sports Franchises [OMG\! The World's Fastest Texters Square Off](/video/ATJFrFfa/) ### OMG! The World's Fastest Texters Square Off [ABC Wide World of Sports](/video/zRtwglU7/) ### ABC Wide World of Sports --- ## Transcript >> The video you're now watching is not sped up. The kid's arms just move that fast. >> If I'm going really fast and I'm not messing a lot, then I think I'm doing pretty well. >> The game is called sport stacking and young Steve Purugganan has established himself as the speediest sport stacker in the world. >> In a tournament, the times are really close so you wanna get the fastest time and if you're like one second off, that's a lot of time of your time so-- >> A year ago this month, he set a new world record. Building and breaking down six pyramids in just over 6 seconds with 40 moves to a sport stacking routine that's roughly one move every tenth of a second. >> It took me about six months to get around 7 seconds. You first start off with the 3- 6- 3. >> This past January, he broke his own world record completing what they call the cycle in 5. 9 seconds. >> Take it down. Take it down. Then you go-- >> On April 15th, he defends that record against more than a thousand other cup stackers competing at the World Championships in Denver. >> You do one 1- 10- 1. Well, the cups have three holes in them so the air releases so you could stack the cups faster and they don't stick to each other. >> Today, he's 11 years old, but he first became obsessed with the sport as an 8- year- old. >> In the summer, my brother Andrew is watching TV and then he was watching ESPN and he saw that 2006 World Sport Stacking Championships on it. He used to watch it a lot and then we usually copy them and see what they did and then we did it with our own plastic cups, but they kept sticking because the don't have holes. >> Competitions focused on a cycle, which involved three different increasingly larger pyramids. There's the 3- 6- 3, the 6- 6, and the 10- 1 >> For the one 1- 10- 1, you have to tap these two cups on the offset edge and some people just skip that and just go like that and they usually get disqualified. >> For Steven, sport stacking has become his calling card. Fans sent him YouTube videos of their stacking, looking for advice. McDonalds signed him to appear in a commercial and like every young sport stacker, it allows him to feel like a superman, able to do something that no adult has been able to match. >> There you go. >> Okay. >> Not a world class. >> Good for a beginner. >> Good for a beginner. There you go. I did better there. So, what's your best time? >> In competition, it's 1. 80, but in practice it's 1. 66. I always say practice, practice, practice and to use a light touch. I practice about an hour a day. So take one. >> Steven's brothers had not been able to match him either. All three Purugganan boys are avid sport stackers and watching them team up reveals the next big step for any world class sport stacker. After you've mastered the cycle, the next great challenge the double's competition. >> He has to get all the chemistry now like each one has to be like perfectly executed like to get it to 10. >> Learn more about the world of sport stacking at TIME. com / stacking. >> Then you take the 10-- and you're-- and then you end where you started. 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