Vietnam joins China, Singapore as Asia dominates International Math Olympiad top 10

Seven of the top 10 teams at the 2026 International Mathematical Olympiad came from Asia, with China defending its title, while Vietnam broke through on the strength of its geometry results. The contest in Shanghai, China drew 666 contestants from 117 countries and territories, the largest field in the competition's 67-year history.Each team fielded six contestants, who sat two days of exams on July 15 and 16 covering six problems worth seven points each. The results were announced on the afternoon of July 19. China finished first with 232 out of 252 points. Three of its contestants earned perfect scores of 42 and the other three scored between 32 and 38, making China the only team this year to take gold across all six members.The U.S. and Russia placed second and third, each with four gold medals. The U.S. pulled ahead on total score with 207 points to Russia's 196. Russia was competing again after a multi-year absence and landed on the podium on its return.The next four places were separated by a single point each: Singapore with 169, followed by Vietnam with 168, South Korea with 167 and India with 166.Vietnam finished above South Korea for the first time in 18 years, and climbed to fifth from ninth a year earlier. Its previous best placement was a top-three finish, achieved in 2017, 2007 and 1999. The remaining three top-10 spots went to North Korea, the U.K. and Japan, with North Korea and the U.K. tied on 163 points.According to the organizers' detailed scoring, contestants handled Problems 1 and 4 well, posting near-perfect marks. Problems 3 and 6 proved the toughest, with dozens of teams managing only a few points on each.All six Vietnamese students solved Problem 1 completely. But only Nguyen Dinh Tung (12th grade, High School for the Gifted under Hanoi University of Science) and Nguyen Hoang Phuong (11th grade, Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted) scored a single point on Problem 6. Dinh Tung was also the only Vietnamese contestant to earn full marks on Problem 3.On the geometry problem (Problem 2), Vietnamese students stood out, posting a combined 39 points, the highest of any team in the competition.All six Vietnamese contestants medaled, with two gold, three silver and one bronze. Tung, competing for a second time and upgrading his 2025 silver to gold, placed 14th individually with 36 points.Detailed scores for the top 10 teams: Rank Country P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 Total 1 China 42 35 35 42 42 36 232 2 United States 42 28 27 42 38 30 207 3 Russia 42 32 19 42 42 19 196 4 Singapore 42 24 10 40 37 16 169 5 Vietnam 42 39 14 38 33 2 168 6 South Korea 42 20 17 40 37 11 167 7 India 42 29 6 39 39 11 166 8 North Korea 41 31 7 41 40 3 163 9 United Kingdom 42 19 8 42 41 11 163 10 Japan 42 17 9 35 40 16 159