India's perfect gold-medal sweep at IPhO 2026 takes the country to joint top spot among 87 participating nations

At the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026, all five members of India's contingent won gold medals, placing them atop the medal standings. The competition took place from July 4 to July 12 in Bucaramanga, Colombia. The Allen Career Institute in Kota is home to four of the five gold medallists: Kanishk Jain, Riddhesh Bendale, Rishit Garg, and Swarit Joshi. Maharashtra native Shresth Suraiya is the fifth gold medallist.

Together with China, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan, India shared first place. There were 381 competitors from 87 different countries. Jain is scheduled to enroll in MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bendale and Garg have been accepted to the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively. The youngest player in the Indian squad, Joshi, is a Kota student in Class 11.

On Monday, the crew received congratulations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a post on X, he wrote, "An outstanding performance by our youngsters... Their feat reflects yet another example of the limitless potential of our Yuva Shakti and their passion towards science and research."

According to Nitin Kukreja, CEO of the Allen Career Institute, the performance was consistent with the institute's performance at international Olympiads. The fact that our students won four of India's five gold medals at the year's first significant international Olympiad is encouraging. "These outcomes demonstrate the nation's increasing prominence on the global scene," he stated. The institute reports that Allen students have won 188 medals at official international Olympiads thus far, including 23 bronze, 75 silver, and 90 gold.