Today, four IOAI Spain students, Tomás, Llúria, Henri and Stepan, are flying to Kazakhstan to compete in the final of FAIO (Fizmat AI Olympiad), an international artificial intelligence olympiad for students.
- Dates: 26–30 October 2026, with rounds on 27 and 28 October.
- Venue: SDU University, in Kaskelen, near Almaty.
- Format: two five-hour rounds.
- Mentors: Danis Dinmukhametov, a 2025 IOAI gold medalist, and Artem Seleznev.
Competing to train at the highest level
FAIO was founded in 2024 by the Republican Physics and Mathematics School in Almaty and, according to its organizers, it is already one of the largest school AI olympiads in the world. This year its online qualifying round brought together nearly 1,500 students from 28 countries. In the final, they solve problems in machine learning, data analysis, mathematics and programming. The problems have no single correct answer: solutions are scored on quality and can be improved until the last second.
Preparing for a contest like this means mastering machine learning, mathematics and programming well beyond the classroom, and building skills useful in any career: reasoning under pressure, testing hypotheses and not settling for the first solution. It is the technical foundation the AI sector demands today, and they will carry it into their studies and their profession. It is the same path followed by Spain’s first IOAI team in its debut in Astana last August (read the news).
Besides competing, they travel to the country that hosted the IOAI world final, with campus visits, a gala dinner and a trip around Almaty.
Friendships that grow stronger
Before take-off, Lana Velikanova, CEO of Harbour.Space, reminded them of what really matters:
Long lasting true friendships are more important than any wins.
— Lana Velikanova, CEO of Harbour.Space
All of them already shared the Tenerife campus in July and the IOAI final in Astana in August. FAIO is a new chance to keep building those bonds.
Stepan, who has already been to the camps in Tenerife and Menorca, agrees:
I completely agree with what you said about friendship too, the camps in Tenerife and Menorca didn’t just help me build technical skills in coding and ML, they also helped me grow a lot as a person. I’m still in touch with many of the people I met there, and those relationships have opened up so many incredible opportunities!
— Stepan
What stays with them forever
Rankings are forgotten; friendships are not. That network, which began on a campus and at a final, will stay with them through their studies and projects.
We wish them the best of luck and a great trip. We will share their experience on our social media and on this website.
Want to be part of the next team? Sign up for the Spanish AI Olympiad.
