11 Year Old Gibraltar Puzzler Competes At World Championship

Eleven-year-old Alma Belle represented Gibraltar as part of the United Kingdom team at the 2026 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, finishing 4th in the world in the Teams competition and 13th in the world in the Pairs competition.

A statement follows below:

I am delighted to share an exciting update from the 2026 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, which took place from 16th–20th September in Valladolid, Spain. The championship brought together the world's fastest speed puzzlers from more than 70 countries, with several thousand competitors taking part across the different competition categories. The level of competition this year was exceptionally high.

11-year-old Alma Belle proudly represented Gibraltar as part of the United Kingdom Team, competing in the Pairs and Teams competitions against many of the world's best speed puzzlers.

In the Teams competition, Alma competed as part of Team Mac&Piece (UK), alongside Krystian Niedziela, Maartje van der Meer and Martine Valk. The team produced an outstanding performance, completing two 1,000-piece puzzles in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 38 seconds to qualify for the World Championship Final in second place. In the final, they completed two brand-new, uncirculated 1,000-piece Ravensburger puzzles in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 18 seconds, finishing 4th in the World out of around 230 teams and earning a place on stage during the World Championship award ceremony.

In the Pairs competition, Alma partnered with Krystian Niedziela (Poland). Together, they delivered a remarkable qualifying performance, completing a 500-piece Ravensburger puzzle in just 20 minutes and 2 seconds to qualify for the World Championship Final in first place. In the final, they completed a brand-new, uncirculated 1,000-piece Ravensburger puzzle in 51 minutes and 13 seconds, finishing 13th in the World out of around 500 pairs.

We are incredibly proud of Alma's achievements and the way she represented Gibraltar and the United Kingdom on the world’s biggest stage in speed puzzling. Competing at the highest level against many of the world's fastest speed puzzlers and achieving such outstanding results made this a truly memorable World Championship.

Alma shared a few words about her experience:

“I’m really happy and proud of what I achieved at the World Championship. I worked really hard to get here and compete at the highest level, so these results mean a lot to me. Hearing the name Gibraltar announced on stage again made me feel really proud.

It was so much fun puzzling with Krystian, Maartje and Martine, and I learned so much from all of them. I’m really happy I got to be part of such a great team.

Having Krystian as my pairs partner was really special. He is an amazing speed puzzler, one of the fastest in the world, but even more importantly, he is a wonderful and inspiring person. The hardest part for me was saying goodbye at the end of the championship, but I know we’ll stay in touch and I’m already looking forward to the next time we get to puzzle together.”