Best Competitive Programmers in the World

The best competitive programmer in the World is Gennady Korotkevich. Gennady has consistently outperformed other Competitive Programmers since 2014 and have set records. He is considered a prodigy in this field.

The best Competitive Programmers are:

  • Gennady Korotkevich
  • Makoto Soejima
  • Tiancheng Lou
  • Andrew He
  • Kamil Debowski
  • Benjamin Qi
  • Petr Mitrichev
  • Mikhail Ipatov
  • Park Sung Gwan
  • Tomek Czajka
  • Kevin Sun
  • Vladislav Epifanov

Gennady Korotkevich

Name: Gennady Korotkevich
Country: Belarus
First appeared: 2006
Born: 1994
Affiliations: ITMO University, Russia (PhD)

Gennady Korotkevich was first noticed when he qualified for IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) in 2006 at an age of 11 years which is the record for the youngest qualified participant. He is the most successful competitor in IOI history by winning a Silver medal in his first year and Gold medal in the next 6 years.

As of 2021, Gennady is pursuing PhD in ITMO University, Russia.

Notable performances:

  • Youngest to qualify for International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) at 11 years
  • 6 times Gold medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
  • 2 times Winner at International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals
  • 4 times Facebook Hacker Cup winner
  • 7 times Google Code Jam winner
  • 7 times Yandex Cup winner

Makoto Soejima

Name: Makoto Soejima
Country: Japan
First appeared: 2005
Born: 1992
Affiliations: AtCoder

Makoto Soejima is a competitive programmer from Japan and have claimed victory at several prestigious coding events. From 2007 to 2009, he won Gold medal at IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) and a bronze medal in 2005.

In 2008 and 2009, he won Silver medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

Notable Performances:

  • 3 times Gold medal and 1 Bronze medal at IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad)
  • 2 times Silver medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
  • Winner at Google Code Jam 2011; Runner up in 2019 and 2015; 2nd runner up in 2018
  • Winner at Facebook Hacker Cup 2016; Runner up in 2018; 2nd runner up in 2014

Tiancheng Lou

Name: Tiancheng Lou
Country: China
First appeared: 2004
Born: 1990
Affiliations: Tsinghua University, China; PonyAI

Tiancheng Lou is a Competitive Programmer and Researcher originally from China and now, works from USA. He is the founder of PonyAI and is a 2 times World Champion at Google Code Jam.

Tiancheng has worked for Google (2012 to 2016), Quora and Baidu as a Software Engineer.

Notable Performances:

  • 2 times Winner at Google Code Jam 2008 and 2009
  • 2 times 2nd runner up at Facebook Hacker Cup 2011 and 2012
  • Gold medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2004

Andrew He

Name: Andrew He
Country: USA
First appeared: 2014
Born: 1997
Affiliations: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Andrew He holds a Bachelors degree in Computing and Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He, currently, as a Software Developer at Impira.

Andrew He is a young Competitive Programmer and has demonstrated great performance in International Level. It is expected that will give tough competition to other top Competitive Programmers if he continues in this direction.

Notable Performances:

  • 3rd in Google Code Jam 2019 and 2020
  • 1st in Distributed Code Jam 2017
  • 2 times Gold medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2014, 2015
  • 2nd (team) in International College Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals 2019

Kamil Debowski

Name: Kamil Debowski
Country: Poland
First appeared: 2013
Born: 1995
Affiliations: University of Warsaw

Kamil Debowski is a Competitive Programmer known as errichto in online contests. He is affiliated with University of Warsaw.

Notable Performances:

  • 2nd in Google Code Jam 2018
  • Bronze medal in Olympiad in Informatics 2013
  • Bronze medal at International College Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals 2015

Benjamin Qi

Name: Benjamin Qi
Country: USA
First appeared: 2018
Born: 2000
Affiliations: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2019 to 2023

Benjamin Qi is a Competitive Programmer from USA and is currently, pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Computing and Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

His performance (2nd Worldwide) in Facebook Hacker Cup 2020 has placed him at one of the best upcoming Competitive Programmers.

Notable Performances:

  • 2 times Gold medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2018, 2019
  • 2nd in Facebook Hacker Cup 2020

Petr Mitrichev

Name: Petr Mitrichev
Country: Russia
First appeared: 2000
Born: 1985
Affiliations: Google; Moscow State University;

Petr Mitrichev is a Competitive Programmer from Russia and have studied at Moscow State University. He works at Google as of 2021 on Google Search Engine.

Petr is one of the original Competitive Programmers who demonstrated consistent performance. He has won all Major Competitive Programming contest at some point.

Notable Performances:

  • 2 times Gold medal (2000, 2002) and 1 silver (2001) at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
  • 1st in Google Code Jam 2006 and 3rd in 2005
  • 3 times winner (1st) in Facebook Hacker Cup 2011, 2013 and 2017
  • 4 times Winner at Topcoder Open 2006, 2013, 2015, 2018
  • 2 times runner up (2nd) at International College Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals
  • Winner in Yandex Cup (Algorithm) 2011

Mikhail Ipatov

Name: Mikhail Ipatov
Country: Russia
First appeared: 2015
Born: 1998
Affiliations: Moscow State University

Mikhail Ipatov is a Competitive Programmer from Russia and has studied at Moscow State University.

Notable Performances:

  • 1 Gold medal (2015) at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
  • Winner at International College Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals (2019)
  • 1st at Facebook Hacker Cup 2018, 2nd in 2019, 3rd in 2017

Park Sung Gwan

Name: Park Sung Gwan
Country: South Korea
First appeared: 2008
Born: 1990
Affiliations: Seoul National University

Park Sung Gwan is a Competitive Programmer from South Korea and is a student at Seoul National University and works at Naver. Park is known as dotorya in online contests and has the most notable performance at Facebook Hacker Cup 2017 securing 2nd position Worldwide.

Notable Performances:

  • 2nd in Facebook Hacker Cup in 2017
  • Grand prize (team) at International College Students Programming Competition 2008

Tomek Czajka

Name: Tomek Czajka
Country: Poland
First appeared: 2000
Born: 1985
Affiliations: SpaceX, Google

Tomek Czajka is a Competitive Programmer from Poland and have notable performances at top Competitive Coding contests. He currently, works at SpaceX and has previously, worked at Google (2007 to 2013).

He has studied at Warsaw University (Bachelors) and Purdue University (Masters).

Notable Performances:

  • 3 times winner at Topcoder Open (2003, 2004, 2008)
  • Winner at ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest 2003
  • 2 times Gold medal at International Olympiad in Informatics (2000, 1999) and 1 silver medal (1998)
  • Winner at Google Code Jam Europe 2006
  • 2 times Runner up at Facebook Hacker Cup 2012 and 2014
  • Winner at USA Computing Olympiad 2000

Kevin Sun

Name: Kevin Sun
Country: Canada
First appeared: 2013
Born: 1997
Affiliations: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Kevin Sun is a Competitive Programmer from Canada and acheived the 2nd place in Google Code Jam in 2020. Kevin studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Notable performances:

  • 2nd place at Google Code Jam 2020
  • 3 times Gold medal (2014 to 2016) and 1 Bronze medal (2013) at IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad)
  • 1 silver medal at International Olympiad in Informatics

Vladislav Epifanov

Name: Vladislav Epifanov
Country: Russia
First appeared: 2007
Born: 1990
Affiliations: UNN Institute of Information Technology

Vladislav Epifanov is a Competitive Programmer from Russia and has studied at UNN Institute of Information Technology. He acheived the 3rd position Worldwide in Google Code Jam 2017.

Notable performances:

  • 3rd at Google Code Jam 2017
  • 2 times Gold (2007 and 2008) and 1 Silver medal (2009) at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
  • Winner in ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) 2011 and 2016