The Association of Mathematicians of Canton Sarajevo (CS) announced that Bosnian and Herzegovinian (BiH) students achieved a sensational result at this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
They reminded that the IMO is the most prestigious mathematics competition in the world, which this year was held in Australia’s Sunshine Coast. Students from BiH won one gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. As a team, they ranked approximately 20th among 110 countries. The final team ranking will be known once the organizers input the results.
Vuk Jankovic won the gold medal, repeating last year’s success. He is already the most successful competitor from BiH, even though he has only completed the second year of high school.
“All who know Vuk know what a wonderful and well-mannered young man he is, and that he truly deserves this gold medal through his many years of dedicated work. This exceptional young man scored 35 out of a possible 42 points, which is also a record for BiH,” stated the Association of Mathematicians of CS.
The silver medals were won by: Andrej Krcmar, who added silver to last year’s gold and silver from 2023. As noted, this may not be the medal he had hoped for, but he will have the chance to go for another gold next year; Adnan Osmic, who made progress after last year’s bronze, which is, as pointed out, a fantastic result for a student who has only completed the second year of high school and still has plenty of time ahead; Benjamin Mujkic, who ended his very rich competitive career in an excellent way and became the first student in the history of BiH to win five medals at the IMO – a gold, two silvers, and two bronzes.
As stated by the Association, this year’s IMO debutants Harun Memic and Stefan Maletic also did very well, winning bronze medals. Considering that Harun has only completed the first year, and Stefan the second, their time is yet to come, and the best results are expected from them in the years ahead.
The team leaders were Amar Kuric and Tijana Babic, who themselves once successfully represented BiH at the IMO in 2016, 2017, and 2018. They extended their warm congratulations to the students and leaders for this great result.
They emphasized that this year’s placement and last year’s 13th place are by far the best team results for BiH in history and the only two IMOs in which all BiH students won medals.
“At this year’s IMO, our students scored a total of 169 points (an average of more than 28 points per competitor), which is an absolute record for BiH,” they added.
The Association of Mathematicians of CS noted that this is an exceptionally young team, consisting of one first-year student, three second-year students, one third-year student, and one senior, while at the IMO, all competitors solve the same problems, regardless of age. The students’ trip to Australia was financially supported by the Ministry of Education of CS and the Republika Srpska (RS) Institute for Pedagogy, to whom they expressed heartfelt thanks.
