Best year for Ireland at the International Mathematical Olympiad
- Anca Mustata
- 7 days ago
- 16 min read
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the world championship in mathematics for school students, the oldest and largest of the Science Olympiads, with 110 countries taking part in 2025. Ireland's first IMO participation was in Canberra, Australia, in July 1988. Hence IMO 2025, for the second time hosted by Australia, was going to be a very special occasion for Ireland. Indeed, it did not disappoint. Here are the results:
Age | School | |||
18 | Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin | 31 | Silver medal | |
17 | Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh, Cork | 28 | Silver medal | |
16 | St Vincent’s College, Castleknock | 25 | Bronze medal | |
18 | The Institute of Education, Dublin | 18 | HM | |
17 | St Flannan’s College, Co Clare | 15 | HM | |
17 | St Vincent’s College, Castleknock | 10 | HM |
These are the best results for Ireland in 38 years of participation in many respects:
· First time for Ireland to win 3 medals (2 silver, 1 bronze).
· This doubled the amount of silver medals earned in 37 previous participations.
· Highest ever team score, breaking the previous record by more than 50%.
· The highest relative country position (62%, first time in the top half).
· One of only three editions when all team members got an award.
This is the informal deputy leader report of team Ireland’s time at IMO 2025.
Selection and preparation
The team was selected through a rigorous and extensive process, starting with the Irish Mathematical Olympiad (IrMO). About 14,000 students took part in IrMO round 1 in September, of whom hundreds were invited to take part in Mathematics Enrichment Programmes in 6 centres: ATU Sligo, Maynooth University, UCC, UCD, University of Galway, University of Limerick, leading to participation of 123 students in the final round of IrMO on 25th Jan. The top 13 performers were invited to training camps and team selection tests (TST) in UCD in February and March, leading to the final team decision in early April.
Since none of the team members was tied up by the Leaving Certificate exam, the pre-IMO training could start early. Through April-May, the team sat two practice exams and worked their way through a long problem set. Once school was done (for all except Vitalii, who continued with online Ukrainian school and exams) – we set a regular team training schedule, with problem sets, practice exams and online sessions throughout June. The students found this intensive, but so did I - it wasn’t easy to source problems at the right level of difficulty and variety of topics, as the more experienced team members had already worked their way through an impressive array of Olympiad tests: from IMO Shortlists, USA MO and TSTs, BMO2, RMM and others – thanks to the useful AoPS contest collection. Still, there was something to learn for everyone - I had fun finding or making up new problems to challenge the students, and admiring their beautiful, ingenious solutions. The team also sat 3 additional practice exams, marked by team leaders and by former IMO/EGMO contestants - the detailed feedback no doubt helped some team members polish their write-up skills to fully clinch the cut-off marks for their IMO awards.
On July 4th, the team gathered in UCD for a final training session with Mark Flanagan before leaving for Australia. Mayya Golitsyna, who had taught both Angyang and Tianci for some years, came to wish good luck to all. Everyone was in good spirits.
Training on the Sunshine Coast
We left Dublin in the morning of 5th July. The team was accompanied by Bernd Kreussler (MIC, Limerick) as team leader, Stephen Buckley (Maynooth University) as IMO Observer and Emily Wolfe (UCC student and former IMO contestant), as part of the coaching team, and I (Anca Mustata, UCC) as team deputy.
We headed for Doha, where we admired the beautiful geometric roof, glittering bridge and lush garden inside the airport while losing and finding group members, dining and playing memory games. After a second leg of 14 hours, we arrived in Brisbane late on 6th July. To get in step with Australian life, we had to buy local SIM cards, unlock our bank accounts at least 5 times (three different Irish banks temporarily blocked the cards of three of the coaches throughout our stay in Australia – only Bernd was spared, due to his meticulous advanced preparations); we also set up/updated various apps to help us better navigate this beautiful country. This left a bit of time to explore Brisbane in the morning of 7th July – the city centre and cathedral, the botanical garden and the river-walk admiring the city skyline and the exotic fauna: lots of White Ibises (aka bin chicken), Laughing Kookaburra, an Eastern Water Dragon, and some eels.
In the afternoon we took the train to Nambour. On the train, the team relaxed – e.g. Justin (aka Angyang) wrote the code for a perfect replica of a computer game he had discovered on the flight entertainment system.
It was pitch-dark when we arrived at the location of our pre-IMO training camp in Coolum Beach, and we played a bit of an Escape House in reverse; we circled around the house wondering how to get in, until Ben figured out the gate-lock system.
The house in Coolum Beach had comfy beds, spacious lounge areas and gardens, and was separated by the beach only by a short walk through a nature reserve – all at a price to fit our budget and beat other options.
For the next few days, we settled into a nice routine: team training sessions in the morning, followed by a short active break in the afternoon, and more training in the evening, after the early sunset at 5:30pm (Australian wintertime). Bernd and Steve led most classes for the first two days, before departing for the official IMO jury site in Noosa on 10th July, to work on the final problem selection. The team worked together before lunchtime and then split into two groups for the evening sessions – one focusing on mastering specific skills and topics, and another one practicing a variety of challenging problems (The IMO 2024 shortlist problems shared by Andrew Smith came in handy).
We couldn’t have done this individualised training without Emily. Her ingenuity also helped solve a number of practical and logistics problems throughout our stay. Besides training, Emily and I managed the groceries, cooking and cleaning, with help from the team. Despite all the work, Emily remarked that our retreat at Coolum Beach, “had a family vacation vibe”. It was partly the house - equipped with bodyboards and rip-sticks (which Owen, Jack and Vitalii tried out following Emily’s expert demos); the cheerful moods of the team members – the banter, pranks and pillow fights kept us all entertained; and the wonderful surroundings of Sunshine Coast.
Tianci concours: “This was a very interesting journey. We did a lot of training, and we also went swimming at the beach and hiking in the mountains. These non-maths sides of IMO are also a brand-new experience for me”.
Indeed, the afternoon break just before sunset allowed us to recharge batteries in all kinds of enjoyable ways: we hiked up Mount Coolum, swam and surfed the waves (without fear, Emily being a certified lifeguard), played ball, strolled or raced along the beach. Midway through the camp, amid all the craic Jack announced his soon to come birthday will be “a little sad, in a cold and foreign country, with strangers he barely knows”; so we organized a little party with cake and birthday candles. The day after, we had a team contest – a challenging practice exam with questions proposed by the students themselves. These were all very beautiful and challenging problems. One of my favorites was Vitalii’s:
For his birthday, Jack got 68 cards, each containing a pair of integers, because he celebrated it in a foreign country among strangers he barely knows. There were no 0s, and no pairs (k,k) and (-k,-k) occurred simultaneously in his present. Jack plays the following game: he picks some numbers, and gets a point for each card that has at least one of the numbers he picked. He is not allowed to choose k and -k at the same time. Find the highest number of points Jack can always get.
One evening we were also happy to get a call from Fionn Kimber O’Shea, former IMO team member, IMO 23 medalist and EGMO 25 deputy, who wished the team good luck and not to be outdone by the EGMO team results – a challenge happily met. Indeed, this is the only year when all Irish team members at the International Mathematical Olympiad and the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad achieved awards, including an EGMO bronze medal for Siobhán McGale.
All in all, the days flew by and lots of problems got solved almost without feeling it. It was very rewarding to see everybody getting into the rhythm and coming up with brilliant ideas. For Jack, the camp felt like the most important part of his IMO training: “It was right before the IMO so everyone there really wanted to improve and everyone there was very skilled so it pushed me to try harder. I honestly don’t think I ever improved so fast in my life. It felt amazing, going from terrible at geometry to half-decent. I actually felt really excited to do maths for the first time in years. After a couple of days I was getting up early and doing maths, not because I had to improve, but because it was fun and felt good to solve problems.”
The days at IMO
On 13 July we said good-bye to Emily and made our way to the official IMO site – Novotel Twin Towers Resort, Sunshine Coast. The whole resort was reserved exclusively for the event. It was exciting to meet other teams and see both familiar and new faces. Owen and Jack were happy to meet friends from Maths Beyond Limits as well as previous IMOs. We also met Rugile from team Lithuania, a dear friend of Ireland - she had taught a class in the August training camp organized by Fionn in Cork.
Our guide – also named Jack – showed us around the place, and its many opportunities to socialize and relax: a lagoon with kayaks and paddleboard, swimming pool, sports fields, board-game rooms and ping-pong table. The spacious conference room was to be used for all the special IMO events: The opening and closing ceremonies, the IMO exams, then coordination, the guest lectures and the final barbeque party. We can only wonder at the Australian AMT organising team for this feat of logistics – even though at times this meant we had to cut short on the socialising so as to allow the amazingly efficient staff to prepare the hall for the next event.
We settled for a while on the sports fields. Then Ben and I started playing Sets - a game of patterns taught to countless IMO teams by Gordon Lessells, (Ireland’s long-term well-loved former deputy) – still played with zest at IMO. In fact, soon the Japanese and Irish got together and we learned it from the masters: the Sets were flying away so quietly and politely at the kind of crazy speed I haven’t seen since Jonathan and Anna’s times.
The IMO officially started on 14th July. You can view the Opening ceremony which started by paying respects to the traditional custodians of Sunshine Coast, the Kabi Kabi & Jinibara people. 2009 Australia team member Donna Mark gave a moving speech about the lasting memories of her IMO participation, encouraging students to“ step outside your comfort zone because the people you meet here, the bonds you form here will be life-changing”, and talking about “that magical feeling of being immersed in this very special community. It's a community of people who appreciate the joy of elegant mathematics and truly care about sharing that joy.” The highlight was the team parade in the order of country distance from Sunshine Coast (along geodesics). It was sad that some missed/would have to take the exam online – like the three students from Gaza.
The ceremony ended with participants joining the chorus of the bush song Waltzing Matilda. We had a very short time for joint team photos, but didn’t miss the now traditional one with Ivory Coast.
Before the day was finished, we strolled together with the Estonians and South Africans to a nearby town to buy some provisions for the exams and to calm our nerves.
The IMO 2025 papers were sat on 15 and 16 July. Contestants had four and a half hours to solve three problems each day. The six problems had been submitted by the USA, Vietnam, Colombia, Lithuania, Italy and Singapore, respectively. Eager deputy leaders also had a chance to sit the papers in less time but with growing excitement, as problems were recognised by deputies of proposing countries, solved and discussed by the rest. Overall, the choice of topics and difficulty level were a good fit for our team, most of whom came out of the exam happy and excited. Tianci solved two and a half problems in the first day and even found a suitable example for the last and most difficult problem of the competition on the second day. Owen worked with with steadfast self-discipline, completing 2 problems each day. Jack, at his first IMO, completed 1 problem each day, and also had a bit of fun with geometry. Of course, like with any such event, there will be some bits of bad luck – mounting stress, a momentary slip of focus leading to a missed idea or step. It was the case with some of our team members, particularly Vitali on the first day; Justin and Ben on the second. This only strengthened their resolve to fully show their potential in the future.
The next two days were dedicated to fun trips and relaxation for the students: they went to Australia Zoo and Aussie World, played beach volleyball and, at least in Jack’s case, about 20 games of Avalone with friends from around the world. There were also talks by Terence Tao, Cheryl Praeger, Eddie Woo and Burkard Polster for the next few days.
In the meantime, the problem coordinators, leaders, deputies and observers worked together to finalise the scores. On our side, we worked with the marking schemes prepared by the problem coordinators. We studied our students’ scripts and discussed proposed marks with coordinators. In general this went very smoothly. In some cases, we had to explain our students’ solution step by step; and only rarely we disagreed with the coordinators over +/- 0.5 points – but were assured that the same rules have been applied consistently across all scripts.
The day ended (literally) with a prolonged jury meeting. Some last grade disagreements were laid out in front of the jury for final decisions, and the exact percentages of gold / silver/ bronze were decided. It turned out that 45 students had achieved a mark of 35, The question was raised whether the AMT organisers physically had enough gold medals. The issue was resolved with a cheerful “We’re mathematicians, anything practical is not our concern” – and hence the jury voted for an unusually large number of gold medals – thus incidentally also giving bragging rights to a few AI teams who claimed a score of 35 points each. Here we should mention that our own Tianci beat those models on the most difficult problem P6, where he was able to earn 1 extra point.
It was 00:00 when the medal cut-offs were decided. The first reaction on our chatgroup was Justin’s NOoooooo! Indeed, it’s very tough to miss a medal by 1 mark! Tianci, Vitalii and Ben were probably fast asleep by then. Owen and Jack came out to the events hall to celebrate. Says Owen: “My IMO this year was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was a bundle of nerves walking into the exam hall on the first day of the competition. The joy and relief I felt a few days later upon hearing I had earned a silver medal was immense. It felt incredible that three years of preparation for IMO 2025 and an unbelievable amount of study had finally paid off”.
Our team and leaders started the final IMO celebrations with a hike around the Kondalilla Falls. Spain’s deputy Marco Castrillón also came along. It didn’t go quite as planed, as I lost my phone in an Uber – it took only 12 hours of desperate efforts to recover it before our flight back. This left Bernd in the unusual position of having to improvise a trip he hadn’t planned in detail. Steve and Marco had to chip in for travel – leading to a bit of banking card unlocking trouble for Steve. It seemed some debt of luck must be paid whenever our team breaks a record - in 2017 Cillian, one of our medalists got sick; in 2022 our leader Mark missed the entire IMO due to Covid; 2025 was more benign by comparison.
Of course nothing could stop us from thoroughly enjoying the Closing Ceremony and the following party; our three medallists called on the scene, and our team’s outstanding overall result. Says Vitalii: “The moment when I recognised the medal as an achievement was when I felt its weight on my neck... I could feel it hitting my chest while I was walking.” Indeed, who wouldn’t feel exhilarated after climbing this mountain.
Bernd brought a bottle of wine to share with other leaders. More than a successful IMO, we celebrated 15 years of working together. During this time he patiently led through a gradual reform of the Irish olympiad training and selection process, which brought us to this point; always considerate and open to suggestions, although he also knows how to stand his ground. Case in point, I am very grateful for his invitation to be his deputy at IMO 2025. It was very rewarding to work with such colleagues and especially with the brilliant young minds on the team - it felt wonderful to see them laughing, being rewarded for their efforts and thoroughly enjoying this special time in their lives.
Perhaps none came out of this IMO more motivated than Justin. On the flight back to Dublin, he had already solved IMO 2025 P3 and IMO 2024 Shortlist G5. The entire team will be eligible for IMO next year; other brilliant young minds may prove fierce competitors for a place on the team. We might have to recycle the title soon.
Acknowledgements
Many factors contributed to the success of team Ireland at IMO 2025.
The team could not have travelled to Australia without the support of the Department of Education and Youth. We are grateful to minister Helen McEntee and the entire team at the department, in particular Emma Salmon and Sinead Hoey.
We gratefully acknowledge sponsorship from Susquehanna, which made the Irish squad and TST camps in UCD possible.
The training camps In Cork and on the Sunshine Coast were possible due to the generous donation of the Irish National Mathematical Competition found. We owe this to Tom Laffey, Gary Maguire, Finbarr Holland, Donal Hurley and all the founding members.
The IMO selection and training was coordinated by the Irish Mathematical Trust, a community of more than 80 mathematicians, in collaboration with university centres across Ireland (UCC, UCD, NUIG, UL, MU and ATU Sligo) – the list of all events and all contributors can be found in the IMT calendar. The team success is also theirs!
The training camps were consistently identified by the students as most impactful for their training. Says Vitalii: “For me, the most important parts were the TST training camps and the pre-IMO training camp. They have very intensive training, which makes for good results, they allow us to meet lots people that have the same interests and they make us meet our competitors for places on the team, which motivates very strongly.” Owen concurs: “Without a doubt, the most important training opportunities for IMO have been the in-person training camps organised by the Irish Maths Trust. These give an opportunity to attend lectures and solve problems with a tutor giving live advice. Also, they give a chance to interact with other students around Ireland who have an interest in maths: I find that I improve far more when working in a group instead of alone. The IMT has successfully organised many of these camps: this year alone there have been at least 6 in various locations around the country. This support has no doubt enabled me in my success at IMO 2025.” The 2024-2025 camps were organised by Mark Flanagan, Myrto Manolaki, Fionn Kimber O’Shea and Anca Mustata. Many thanks to all contributors! Accommodation for training camps makes one of the main costs incurred annually by the Irish Mathematical Trust. We are grateful to our current sponsors Susquehanna, the INMC and the Department of Education and Youth for making some of these camps possible. Additional sponsorship would allow us to increase the scope and number of participants in such camps, thus increasing the undeniable benefits.
The students’ families and schools supported and guided them toward the local Mathematics Enrichment programmes, leading to a first encounter with Mathematics Olympiads by their 2nd year in secondary school. This is exceptionally early by Irish standards – never before had an Irish team so many years of Olympiad experience. At the same time, this is still behind the average training time of students in countries with a tradition of success at IMO. For example, Vitalii has started training in Ukraine 6-7 years ago, which would be closer to a typical contestant from a country with IMO tradition (Vitalii had his share of challenges – you can find his testimony in this blog). Most IMO successful countries tend to offer other advantages, such as extensive government and/or business support for the local and national Mathematics Olympiad organisations, advanced/intensive maths education in schools (for example, having teachers with Mathematics University degrees from 4th-5th class, and/or the option to specialise to STEM subjects in the last years of secondary school); and university scholarships for IMO laureates.
Says Vitalii: “I am very thankful to my teachers Serhii Lifyts and Anastasiia Lysakevych from Ukraine, who where teaching me for 6 years. Their contribution to my medal is no less than mine, if not more.” Other team members also benefited from tutoring by experienced trainers like Mayya Golitsyna, David Zmiaikou. For others, the Mathematics Enrichment programmes were the main source of guidance, support and inspiration.
Hence involving students in Mathematics Enrichment activities from a younger age is undoubtedly of benefit to Ireland. Indeed, there is increasing demand for Junior Mathematics Enrichment programmes like those in UCC and UCD. There is scope for growth in these as well as and other locations nationwide, pending support by generous sponsors. As well, following the successes of our students, Ireland has been invited to participate in the Junior Balkan Mathematics Olympiad, a unique event for students under the age of 15.5 – our participation will only be possible if additional sponsorship can be found.
The students could not have achieved such success without many hundreds of hours of individual work, solving problems and practicing new techniques. Having a group of highly skilled peers was also essential. Says Jack: “all my friends that I trained with pushed me to improve through showing me what would happen if I worked hard and didn’t give up... I know for a fact that without all those people better than me, I wouldn’t be close to as good as I am now.” Recent IMO contestants paved the way to ambitious goals by personal example, encouragement, and new training initiatives; in particular Fionn Kimber O’Shea (with his recent medal, help with international math camp applications, and Cork-based camps) and Tianyiwa Xie, who organised a new remote problem-solving scheme with mentors Alex Hanley, Adam Kelly, Archie Connolly, Lucas Bachmann, Tianyiwa Xie, Huyen Pham. Some team members attended international Olympiad training classes and/or Maths Camps in China, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine, and WOOT, and the free online classes by Anant Mudgal, facilitated by Tianyiwa Xie, for which we are very grateful. International collaborations are an essential feature of Mathematical Olympiad. Says Owen “The presence of so many people who share the same passion for maths gives the IMO a relaxed, fun and supportive atmosphere. Thanks to this, it is easy to make friends from around the globe, and keep in touch with them long after the event ends.” Jack concurs: “These are friends that I’m still in contact with and probably will stay with for life.”
IMO 2025 will likely be remembered as the competition where artificial intelligence (AI) won its first gold medal – an achievement received with trepidation by many, but also with some disappointment within IMO circles – as it may take attention away from the immense achievements of the student contestants. However, that need not be the case. To me, the AI result highlights a perennial aspect of intelligence: that it is highly trainable. This should motivate us to invest even more in nurturing the intelligence of our young people, as this will grow intertwined with other profoundly human qualities: inquisitiveness, openness, resilience, a sense of belonging and aspirations to bring real tangible contributions to society.
