The students competed alongside 666 of the world\u2019s brightest young minds from 117 countries across the world.<\/p>\n
Team Ireland, which was made up of six students, Owen Barron, Vitalii Halushko, Angyang Li, Jack McAuliffe, Ben Maguire and Tianci Yan, has walked away from the International Maths Olympiad 2026 competition in Shanghai, China with three medals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The secondary school students earned one silver and two bronze medals at the 67th International Mathematical Olympiad, which is a global championship in mathematics for second-level students. They competed against 666 of the world\u2019s brightest young minds from 117 countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each participant was given 4.5 hours per day to solve six highly complex mathematical problems, with each worth a maximum of seven points, for a possible 42 points. The threshold in 2026 for a bronze was 16 points, 23 for silver and 29 for gold, with gold medals awarded to only the top 16pc of competitors.<\/p>\n
Maguire earned Ireland\u2019s fifth-ever Silver medal, with Li and McAuliffe earning Bronze medals. This is Ireland\u2019s second time coming away with three medals and Barron, Yan and Halushko, who each medalled at last year\u2019s event, all earned honorable mentions for a complete and correct solution to at least one problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team was led by prof Steve Buckley of Maynooth University, Tianyiwa Xi of U M\u00fcnster and Dr Mark Flanagan from UCD.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following last year\u2019s success Irish Mathematical Trust volunteers provided extracurricular maths training<\/a> and coaching across the country, with recent expansion enabled by Stripe\u2019s sponsorship<\/a> of the Irish Maths Trust (IMT).<\/p>\n Commenting on the win, Alison Ahern, the head of education partnerships at Stripe, said, \u201cMaths is the cornerstone of future success in fields as diverse as engineering, finance, medicine and software development.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are dedicated at Stripe to supporting excellence in maths and STEM education in Ireland and we are hugely proud of this year\u2019s International Maths Olympiad team, who represent Ireland\u2019s sharpest mathematical minds at secondary level.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to the competition in Shanghai, the team participated in the International Mathematics Summer Camp in Beijing, which incorporated an Olympiad-style contest where Yan, Halushko and McAuliffe earned Bronze medals and Barron a Silver.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Neil Dobbs, a lecturer in mathematics at UCD and chair of the IMT, said, \u201cThat all six team members have medalled at the IMO either this year or last is simply extraordinary. The dreams, the hard work and the sense of community throughout the wider squad has been wonderful to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n