World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship starts in Valladolid tomorrow, but do you know who you should keep an eye out for?
In this article we try to highlight some of the notable competitors based on competition results and rankings. We are concentrating to solo competitions so the list is most relevant to the individual category.
We want to give a big shout out to Piece Talks podcast and their episode #24 Who to Watch at Worlds 2025 where Rob Shields and EB Caron cover the same topic. This article and the episode cover many of the same people but EB and Rob are able to tell much more about the background of different competitors.
Note to competitors: If you are competing and not mentioned here, it is in no way meant to say you are not great or able to outshine the people listed here. This list is based on rankings from competitions but we know there are always people you do not know about in advance.
Who will be competing
Reigning national champions
Since Worlds 2024 many countries have held their national championships – some for the very first time! Below you can find a list of people who have won the national title in the last 12 months and are participating in Worlds this year.
- Australia: Katrina Coleman (7th at Worlds 2024)
- Austria: Verena Klauser
- Belgium: Britney Ponchaut
- Canada: Megan Sloka
- Czechia: Tereza Koptíková (10th at Worlds 2024)
- Denmark: Klara Wesselkamp* (12th at Worlds 2024)
- Germany: Katharina Reiner (5th at Worlds 2024, European champion 2025)
- Italy: Chiara Dellantonio (11th at Worlds 2024)
- Malaysia: Jessica Mak (Wei-E)
- Mexico: Rodrigo Javier López Farías
- The Netherlands: Tamar Visser
- New Zealand: Tyler Duberly
- Poland: Weronika Huptas (2nd at Worlds 2024)
- Portugal: Mariana Mendes
- Spain: Alejandro Clemente León (8th in 2024, World champion 2022 and 2023)
- Sweden: Terese Scherman
- Switzerland: Kristin Gall
- UK: Emma Quirke**
(* In Danish nationals citizens and permanent recidents were eligible for the title. In Worlds participants list Wesselkamp is listed under Germany.)
(** In UK nationals 2024 the title could be won by recidents of United Kingdomon its Overseas Dependencies and Territories, or recinets of Republic of Ireland. In Worlds participants list Quirke is listed under Ireland.)
Top 25 from Worlds 2024
Beyond the top 25 finishers mentioned above, also the following people are returning to Worlds this year:
- Krystian Niedziela, Poland (3rd)
- Inge Sinot, The Netherlands (9th)
- Melissa Townsend, Australia (14th)
- Erika Skarupskė, Lithuania (16th)
- Wiktor Kacprzak, Poland (20th)
- Markéta Freislerová, Czech Republic (21st)
Other notable speed puzzlers
To find other notable competitors to keep an eye on, we looked at other competitions and rankings: the European Championship, the Nordic Championship, Euro Jigsaw Jam Q1 and Q2 from 2025, and the USAJPA JPAR.
- Annemie Kostezer, Switzerland (9th in EJJ Q1)
- Astrid Roesen Abildgaard, Denmark (10th in EJJ Q1)
- Ellen Sinot, The Netherlands (7th in EJJ Q2)
- Gabriel Moreno Turcu, Spain (17th at Europeans)
- Hanna Lehikoinen, Finland (3rd in EJJ Q1 and Q2, 16th at Europeans)
- Hanna Sigler, USA (11th in March JPAR)
- Hannah Doyle, USA (16th in March JPAR, 2nd in USA nationals)
- Jana Ondroušková, Czech Republic (11th at Europeans, 2019 World champion)
- Lenka Henao Mišíková, Slovakia (7th in EJJ Q1 and 6th in EJJ Q2, 18th at Europeans)
- Maja von Borstel, Germany (20th in Europeans)
- Mari Black, USA (5th in EJJ Q1, 4th in EJJ Q2, 6th in March JPAR)
- Natalia Ptaszek, Poland (10th at Europeans)
- Tyra Weiring, Sweden (5th at Nordics)
- Verena Klauser, Austria (8th in EJJ Q1, 19th at Europeans)
- Veronika Valt, Slovakia (10th in EJJ Q2)
Who is not participating this year
While many top ranked speed puzzlers are returning to or debuting in Worlds this year, there are also many who are participating this year. We here in Speed Puzzling News know there are many reasons not go, including (but not limited to) cost of travel, length of competition, personal resons like health, family or work, or difficulty of securing a visa. Because of some of these reasons the whole SPN team won’t be there either. So this section is meant to celebrate some of the great speed puzzlers we unfortunately won’t see in this years championship.
Reigning champions
The most notable speed puzzler not participating this year is undoubtly Kristin Thuv, the reigning World Champion. Many of us have followed her journey to the title through the last three championships and would have loved to see her defend the title this year, but she is taking a well deserved year off from the championship. In her announcement of not participating this summer se sited prioritizing other things in her life, like studies and health.
There are also several reigning national champions who are not participating in Worlds this year:
- Brazil: Daniela De Oliveira Dinato
- Colombia: Natalia Reyes Reina
- Ecuador: Alison Plasencia
- Egypt: Amal Gamal – أمل جمال
- Finland: Riina Lahtinen
- Hungary: Barbara Baár-Gócza
- Japan: Haruka Soku
- Norway: Ole Marton Ølberg
- Slovenia: Maja Jurjevčič Tržan
- USA: Kelly Walter (4th at Worlds 2024)
Top 25 from Worlds 2024
These top ranking competitors from 2024 won’t be competing in Valladolid this year:
- Mercédesz Arthofer, Hungary (6th)
- Lina Ivanova, International Puzzler (13th)
- Cathy Roiter, USA (15th)
- Andrea Peng, USA (17th)
- Taisiya Voronova, International Puzzler (18th)
- Emma Pan, USA (19th)
- Lauren Kautz, USA (22nd)
- Mia Oehmig, Germany (23rd)
- Alice Rowe, USA (24th)
- Lisa Cruz, France (25th)
Other notable speed puzzlers
These other top ranked speed puzzlers are not participating this year:
- Abby Patnoe, USA (10th in JPAR)
- Becca Taylor, USA (13th in JPAR)
- Colleen Dunne, USA (15th in JPAR)
- Dorottya Ferenczné dr. Horváth, Hungary (7th in Europeans)
- Emilia Korhonen, Finland (2nd in Nordics)
- Emily Chandran, USA (18th in JPAR)
- Grayson Shannon, USA (14th in JPAR)
- Hannah Scott, USA (9th in JPAR)
- Jeanne Roiter, USA (7th in JPAR)
- Karen Kavett (Karen Puzzles), USA (17th in JPAR)
- Katarina Svensson, Sweden (3rd in Nordics)
- Laura Dóra Bíró, Hungary (8th in Europeans)
- Sarah Schuler, USA (19th in JPAR)
- Tiffany Medeiros, USA (12th in JPAR)
- Yvonne Feucht, USA (20th in JPAR
Photo by Daria Glakteeva on Unsplash
Comments
4 responses to “Who is competing at Worlds – and who is not”
Just a short comment because it seems less well known as it should:
Jana Ondroušková, Czech Republic, was the first World Champion 2019 (Individual Category) under her maiden name Jana H.
Thank you for mentioning this. That is very true. I’ll add a mention of her title to the article.
I’m missing one very notable speed puzzler from the Netherlands: Maartje van der Meer. She was Dutch national champion (in the larger event then the one you mention in the post), second in the other and won a lot of EJJs.
She’s considered the best Dutch puzzler and with Inge and Tamar around that truly means something.
Yes, Maartje is definitely a big contender this year. I unfortunately forgot to look up the other Dutch championship.