China's IMO 2026 Team Wins All Gold Medals, Three Perfect Scores Including Deng Leyan; GPT-5.6 Pro Solves All Six Problems on First Attempt

The 67th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 2026) was held from July 13 to 21 at Shanghai High School. The Chinese team defended its world champion title with all gold medals and a total score of 232 points, leading the second-place US team by 25 points. Among them, Deng Leyan, Liu Che, and Zhang Bailun each achieved a perfect score of 42 points. Deng Leyan became the fifth Chinese contestant to achieve two perfect scores at the IMO, following Luo Wei, Fu Yunhao, Wei Dongyi, and Shi Haojia. The US team finished second with 207 points, and the Russian team third with 196 points.

Chinese Team Performance and Contestant Background

• All six Chinese contestants won gold medals, with a total team score of 232 points. The gold medal cutoff was 29 points, silver 23, and bronze 16.
• Deng Leyan (Shanghai High School, Grade 11) achieved a perfect score for the second consecutive year, making him the only contestant in China to have consecutive perfect scores at both the CMO and IMO.
• Liu Che (No.2 High School of East China Normal University, Grade 11) previously won first place globally at the Romanian Master of Mathematics and has consecutive CMO gold medals.
• Zhang Bailun (Shanghai High School, Grade 10) achieved a perfect score in his IMO debut, having previously ranked last at the CMO but barely made the training team before turning the tables.
• Other contestants: Peng Zhenqian (High School Affiliated to Renmin University, 38 points), Peng Yuxuan (Wuhan No.3 Middle School, 36 points), Yang Chen (Wuchang Experimental High School, Hubei, 32 points).
• Shanghai High School has accumulated 20 IMO gold medals, with students winning gold for four consecutive years since 2022.

AI Participation: GPT-5.6 Pro and Xiaohongshu Large Model

• According to reports, GPT-5.6 Pro solved all six problems of this year's IMO on its first attempt without human assistance. SignalPilot Labs independently evaluated that it generated complete solutions. OpenAI provided a 12-month ChatGPT Pro subscription to all gold medalists.
• Xiaohongshu's large model dots-note-3.0 was officially evaluated by the IMO and answered all six problems correctly, earning a perfect score and a gold medal, becoming the first large model in China to receive an official IMO gold medal certification. Its solution to Problem 3 was praised by double CMO gold medalist Liu Hanzuo as "correct and beautifully reasoned," and CMO gold medalist Wang Qiantong called it "concise, elegant, and hitting the essence." The model uses end-to-end reasoning in natural language, combined with Python code execution and recursive self-critique capabilities.

Event Background and Historical Data

• This year's IMO was hosted by Shanghai High School, the first time the competition was held at a high school, and the second time China hosted the event. A record 685 contestants from 119 countries participated.
• Since China first participated in 1986, the team has accumulated 197 gold, 37 silver, and 6 bronze medals, and has ranked first as a team 26 times.
• The gold medal cutoff this year was 29 points, down 6 points from 35 points in 2025, indicating increased difficulty. A total of 7 contestants worldwide achieved perfect scores, including one from the UK, one from South Korea, and two from the US.
• Among the US team's four Chinese-American contestants, Alexander Wang was selected for the national team for four consecutive years and won gold; in 2024, he led the team to end China's five-year winning streak.