Students from the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw won the silver medal at the 3rd European Collegiate Programming Championship (ICPC EUC 2026), the final of which took place on 8th February at the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw. The team from the University of Warsaw qualified for the 50th ICPC 2026 World Finals, which will take place in November in Dubai.

The European Collegiate Programming Championship is a qualifier for the finals of the oldest and most prestigious student IT competition in the world – the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).

The 3rd European Championship was held from 6th February to 8th February at the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw. Fifty-three teams from 53 universities, representing leading European academic institutions educating computer scientists, took part in the competition.

The team from the University of Warsaw, including Jan Gwiazda, Stanisław Karpiejczyk, and Jerzy Olkowski, won silver, taking 7th place in the overall European Championship qualification. The team advanced to the 50th ICPC 2026 World Finals, which takes place on 15th November in Dubai.

A total of four gold, four silver, and four bronze medals were awarded at the European Collegiate Programming Championship.

“I spoke about you recently at the World Laureates Summit in Dubai – about how important and brilliant you are, that you are number one. You are the future of artificial intelligence, computer science, mathematics, business, and many other fields. You represent your universities, societies, and countries. The world is changing thanks to you. The university has always been and will always be open, both when you are successful and when difficulties arise. You are already winners,” said Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, Rector of the University of Warsaw, addressing the participants of the championship.

The team representing Delft University of Technology became the European academic champion in collegiate programming and won the gold medal. The next three places, also with gold medals, were taken by teams representing Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, The Open University of Israel, and Universiteit Utrecht. The next four places, winning silver medals, went to the University of Warsaw, the Hasso Plattner Institute, ETH Zürich, and the University of Belgrade. The bronze medalists were the University of Cambridge, Middle East Technical University, Charles University, and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

The team from the University of Warsaw qualified for the ICPC 2026 World Finals in December 2025 in Wrocław. A total of eight teams qualified in 2025. In Warsaw there were still eight additional places to take. In recognition of the excellent organization of the competition in Warsaw and the very high level of expertise, the ICPC Executive Director, Prof. William Poucher, decided to increase the number of teams advancing to the world finals from Warsaw to 10. A total of 18 teams participating in the European championships will compete in the world championships in Dubai, including two from Poland: the University of Warsaw and the University of Wrocław.

Broadcast of the award ceremony

Competition format

Each university was represented by a team of three students. During the five-hour competition, the teams solved 11 algorithmic and programming tasks using a single computer without internet access. Out of 11 tasks, eight were ultimately solved. The European champions solved five tasks – the same number as the next 10 teams – and the final ranking was determined by the time taken to solve them. The tasks were prepared by an international judging panel composed of experienced academic experts who themselves had achieved global success in such competitions in the past.

“This year, the international team of judges prepared an exceptionally difficult set of tasks, posing a serious challenge even for the best enthusiasts of algorithmic problem solving,” says Prof. Krzysztof Diks from the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw, the Director of ICPC EUC 2026.

Broadcast of the event