Triple Success for Croatian Primary School Students at EJOI 2026 in Kaunas
Gabriel Kos, Filip Udovčić, and Sergej Starešinčić won medals at the Junior Informatics Olympiad in Lithuania, with support from the Croatian Association of Informatics.
Gabriel Kos, Filip Udovčić, and Sergej Starešinčić won medals at the Junior Informatics Olympiad in Lithuania, with support from the Croatian Association of Informatics.
The Croatian team achieved an outstanding result at the tenth European Junior Informatics Olympiad (EJOI 2026), held from July 24 to 30, 2026, in Kaunas, Lithuania. Young informatics students from Croatian primary schools won three medals, gold, silver, and bronze, among about a hundred competitors from 25 countries, as announced by the Croatian Association of Informatics.
The gold medal was won by Gabriel Kos, an eighth-grade student from Vjenceslav Novak Elementary School in Zagreb. The silver went to Filip Udovčić, a seventh-grade student from Josipovac Elementary School, while the bronze was claimed by Sergej Starešinčić, an eighth-grader from Mahično Elementary School in Karlovac. Alongside them, the team also included Gita Radiković, an eighth-grade student from Ivan Goran Kovačić Elementary School in Sveti Juraj na Bregu, Pleškovec.
The national team members were selected based on the best results at the Junior Croatian Informatics Olympiad, held on May 9, 2026, in Zagreb, and at the selection preparations on May 30 and 31 of the same year. The team's responsible leader was Nikola Dmitrović, with expert leader Jakov Celin and responsible organizer Krešimir Malnar, who is also a member of the EJOI Board.
During the competition, students solved six problem-solving tasks in the C++ programming language over two days. Each country was represented by a team of four students born in 2010 or later, accompanied by two leaders.
The organization of the participation and expert preparations was carried out by the Croatian Association of Informatics, with funding secured from public needs for technical culture, supported by the Croatian Technical Culture Community and the Ministry of Science, Education, and Youth. As the Association points out, part of the credit also goes to mentors from the Božo Težak Zagreb Informatics Association and the CHAOS Josipovac Association.
