Romanian pupils have won first place at the 30th edition of the Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad (JBMO 2026), held between 15 and 20 June in Buzau, the Ministry of Education and Research announced on Friday.

The 12 Romanian pupils won five gold medals, including one with a maximum score, five silver medals and two bronze medals.

The gold medal with maximum score was awarded to Andrei Nemtisor (8th grade, 'Costache Negruzzi' National College, Iasi).

Other gold medallists include Andrei-Dimitrie Ciocan (8th grade, Secondary School No. 79, Bucharest), Teodor-Stefan Oancea (9th grade, International Informatics High School, Bucharest), Mark Ilies (7th grade, 'Tudor Vladimirescu' National College, Targu Jiu) and Turan Can Sonuvar (8th grade, 'Mircea cel Batran' National College, Constanta).

The silver medals were awarded to Irina Pilipoutanu (8th grade, 'Tudor Vladimirescu' Secondary School, Pitesti), Traian Danciu (7th grade, International Informatics High School, Bucharest), Radu-Mihai Enache (8th grade, International Informatics High School, Bucharest), Iuri Iamandi (8th grade, 'Tudor Vianu' National College of Computer Science, Bucharest) and Iustin-Bogdan Udma (7th grade, 'Tudor Vianu' National College of Computer Science, Bucharest).

Bronze medals were won by Darius-Ioan Hangan (7th grade, 'Emil Racovita' National College, Cluj-Napoca) and Daniel Petrache (7th grade, Cobia Secondary School, Dambovita county).

The Romanian teams were led by the teachers: Marius Perianu, from 'Ion Minulescu' National College, Slatina, Cristian-Teodor Mangra, from 'Tudor Vianu' National College of Computer Science, Bucharest, Danut Arama, from 'Emil Racovita' National College, Iasi, Vladimir-Cristian Cerbu-Sfarghiu, from 'Stefan cel Mare' Military National College, Campulung Moldovenesc.

Twenty-two countries participated in the competition, 11 officially entered and 11 invited.

The Balkan Mathematical Olympiad features teams of six pupils each from Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Greece, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Türkiye, official member countries of the competition, as well as representative teams from Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, France, Georgia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Uzbekistan, invited countries. As host country, Romania was also allowed to participate with an additional team (Romania B), with invited status.

In the national rankings at this edition, Romania ranked first, as it did last year, with a total score of 202 points, followed by Bulgaria (199 points) and, among the official countries, Türkiye (162 points).

Among the invited teams, the highest score went to France, with 174 points, followed by Kazakhstan (168 points). Romania's second team ranked 6th overall (official and invited countries combined), with 154 points.

Scientific coordination was provided by the Romanian Mathematical Society, while organisational coordination was ensured by the Ministry of Education and Research, DGEPIP.

The Ministry of Education and Research supports the participation of Romania's national teams in international Olympiads by covering participation fees and travel costs, daily allowances for the duration of their stay, as well as by organising and conducting the stages preceding the international Olympiads - local, county, municipal and national stages of these competitions. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Roberto Stan; EN - writing by: Rodica State)