11-year-old Alma Belle represented Gibraltar in three competition categories at the 2026 Portuguese National Puzzle Championship where she won first place in the childrens category and the Best International Performance trophy.

A statement follows below:

11-year-old Alma Belle proudly represented Gibraltar in three competition categories—Children, Pairs, and Teams—and delivered an excellent performance, winning first place and securing the Best International Performance trophy in both the Children’s and Teams categories.

In the Children’s category, Alma completed her 200-piece puzzle in 12 minutes and 27 seconds, earning first place and the Best International Performance trophy.

In the Pairs competition, Alma teamed up with Irene Rodríguez Merchante from Toledo. Together, they won their semi-final in 27 minutes and 33 seconds (500 pieces), and finished 8th in the final (out of 86 pairs), completing the 500-piece puzzle in 35 minutes and 11 seconds.

In the Teams category, Alma joined forces with Cristina Roura Suárez, Miguel Moratiel de la Varga, and Irene Rodríguez Merchante, forming team “To The Cima”. They qualified from the semi-final in first position, completing their 1,000-piece puzzle in 45 minutes, and went on to win the Best International Performance trophy in the final, completing the 1,000-piece puzzle in 51 minutes.

For the second consecutive year, we are incredibly proud of Alma’s results across all five events she participated in, and grateful for the warm welcome and sportsmanship extended by the Portuguese puzzling community and the Associação Portuguesa de Puzzles.