First record is a World Record

Cinematic

A cuber qualifies when their very first regional record (NR / CR / WR — WCA collectively calls these "regional records") was simultaneously a World Record.

Dramatic and rare: most cubers stair-step from NR → CR → WR; only prodigies or competitors in niche events skip straight to WR on debut.

By the numbers

ROW_NUMBER()

First-only pick

Window-rank by start_date

rn = 1

Filter

Keep first-record-per-person only

single ∪ average

Both metric types

UNION ALL, then window-rank together

`record = WR`

Inclusion

First record is a WR

Data source

UNION ALL the two subsets (regional_single_record IS NOT NULL and regional_average_record IS NOT NULL) — each row carries start_date and the record type (NR / CR / WR). A window function ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY person_id ORDER BY start_date) numbers each person's records chronologically; keep rn = 1.

Final WHERE record = 'WR' filters to those whose first record happened to be a WR.

sql

SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
         PARTITION BY person_id ORDER BY start_date
       ) AS rn
FROM (
  SELECT person_id, event_id, 'single' AS type,
         best AS result, regional_single_record AS record, ...
  FROM results WHERE regional_single_record IS NOT NULL
  UNION ALL
  SELECT ..., 'average', average, regional_average_record, ...
  FROM results WHERE regional_average_record IS NOT NULL
) all_records
WHERE rn = 1 AND record = 'WR'

Algorithm / pipeline

Pool all regional records

Both regional_single_record and regional_average_record columns (NR / CR / WR / null) become rows when non-null.

Window-rank per person by date

ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY person_id ORDER BY start_date) numbers each cuber's record events 1, 2, 3, ... chronologically.

Keep `rn = 1`

Keep only each person's earliest regional record; multiple records on the same date all qualify as "first".

Filter `record = WR`

From the first-record set, keep only those tagged WR — that's the leaderboard.

Caveats & edges

"First" is start_date ordering; same-day records (multiple comps, or single + average flagged together) all tie for rn = 1.
Any non-empty regional_*_record value counts (NR / CR / WR all enter the UNION before the WR filter).
WCA's regional_*_record markers are stamped at time-of-record and stay there even after the WR is broken — historical WRs are never "demoted".

First record is a World Record

By the numbers

Data source

Algorithm / pipeline

Caveats & edges

Related stats & links