Alex Mullen World Memory Champion
In just 2010 the question would be asked, ‘Why doesn’t the USA do better at the World Memory Championships?’ I replied, ‘We will be. The right person just hasn’t heard about the sport yet.’
Well, a few years ago Alex Mullen heard about the sport and he quickly started competing in the USA Memory Championship and eventually the World Memory Championships.
Now, he is Alex Mullen World Memory Champion.
He is the first American to ever win this title.
These were the TOP 10 results from the 2015 World Memory Championships in China:
- Alex MULLEN
- Marwin WALLONIUS GMM IGM
- Simon REINHARD GMM IGM
- Johannes MALLOW WMChampion
- Shi Binbin 石彬彬
- Ola Kåre RISA GMM IGM
- Purevjav ERDENESAIKHAN GMM
- Yanjindulam ALTANSUH
- Enkhmunkh ERDENEBATKHAAN
- Lance TSCHIRHART
Some of the incredible achievements Alex Mullen World Memory Champion accomplished:
– Memorized a shuffled deck of 52 cards in 21.5 seconds
– 3885 binary digits in 30 minutes (example: 100110101010)
– 3029 digit number in an hour (NEW WORLD RECORD!!!!!)
These are just 3 of the 10 events! Here are some of the stats for Florian Delle’s website
http://www.memory-sports.com/blog/memory-championships/world-memory-championship-2015/
Chris Day from the World Memory Championships said this about Alex Mullen World Memory Champion:
The difference between being a World Memory Champion or the runner up was just one second at the 24th World Memory Championships which has just finished in the in the giant domed conference centre of the Jintang Hengda hotel in China. Alex Mullen became the first USA World Memory Champion when the final speed card replay between himself and continual front runner Marwin Wallonius of Sweden went down to the final second. Mullen pulled off an incredible twenty one seconds to sprint past Wallonius and seize the title.
Mullen, a second-year medical student, is a memory athlete, a world-ranked contestant who has every right to crow about his powers of recall; instead, he says: You can do it, too. “Everybody has this ability built in,” said Mullen, 22, “even though most people will tell you they don’t have a great memory. I didn’t either.” He didn’t, he said, until discovering as a college sophomore “Moonwalking with Einstein” by Joshua Foer. Subtitled “The Art and Science of Remembering Everything,” the book describes the world of competitive memorization.
Here is the judging stage of Alex Mullen World Memory Champion deck of cards recall. The way this works is Alex took 21.5 seconds to memorize the order of a shuffled deck of 52 cards. Then he had 5 minutes to assemble the cards in the order he remembered. For the judging they will flip over the two decks to see if they match. Here is that judging
21 seconds for Alex. This could give America it’s First World Memory Champ.
Posted by Luis Angel Echeverria on Friday, December 18, 2015
At age 23 Alex Mullen World Memory Champion is at his mental peak. As a matter of fact, he may only get better over the next few years. He will be a force to be reckoned with at the World Memory Championships for years to come.
Marwin Wallonius of Sweeden was neck and neck with Alex the entire way and it came down to the final event.
Alex Mullen final score 8926
Marwin Wallonius 8872
Here are the final rankings for the 2015 World Memory Championships
And a detailed list of Alex’s scores http://www.world-memory-statistics.com/competitor.php?id=2321
Only 54 points separated Alex Mullen World Memory Champion and Marwin Wallonius. Just a few seconds here or there and it is Marwin Wallonius World Memory Champion.
Such a great battle to the end.
As an American I couldn’t be more proud of Alex and what he has accomplished. He is for now, the champion of the world in memory sports.
Congrats Alex!
