Competitive programming at this level is not a general aptitude test. Contestants are given a small number of problems, typically four or five per day, each requiring an algorithm that produces correct answers within strict time and memory limits on inputs large enough to defeat any naive solution. Partial credit is awarded by test group, so the standings separate contestants by how much of each problem they can solve rather than by whether they finished it. Winning outright means solving more of the hardest problems, more efficiently, than anyone else in the hall.
Perekopska's gold was one of four Ukrainian medals at the 2026 olympiad: one gold, two silvers and one bronze, placing Ukraine fourth in the European team standings. The team result is the context for the individual one — a single strong contestant can win a medal, but a four-medal haul reflects a national training programme that is producing depth rather than an outlier.
The EGOI was established to address a specific and measurable gap: the International Olympiad in Informatics, the discipline's flagship contest, has for most of its history had a national-team gender composition of well under ten per cent female. The EGOI runs on the same problem format and the same scoring machinery as the IOI, which is what makes results across the two comparable and why an absolute win at EGOI is treated as a serious competitive result rather than a category prize.
Ukraine's olympiad programme has continued to operate throughout the full-scale war, with training and selection rounds run by the national olympiad organisation. Sending a full team abroad and returning with four medals under those conditions is a logistical result as well as an intellectual one, and it was reported in Ukraine as a national first.
Nothing further about Perekopska's private life is recorded here, and nothing should be. She is a school student; the published facts are her school, her year group, her result and her country's team result, and those are the only facts this page states.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darya Perekopska | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | EGOI 2026 absolute winner and gold medallist | 11th grade |
| Ukraine team | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze — 4th in the European standings | 2026 |
| Field size | 🌍 67 countries | 248 contestants | 2026 |
| Format | 💻 EGOI | Two five-hour days of algorithmic problems, scored by hidden test groups | — |
Programming olympiads are among the few competitions where the result is machine-scored and reproducible: a submitted program either passes a test group or it does not, and the ranking is arithmetic. Finishing first out of 248 contestants from 67 countries is therefore a hard measurement rather than a judged opinion, and the accompanying four-medal team result rules out the possibility of a fluke run.
The limit worth stating: EGOI is a girls-only olympiad, so the field is not the same as the open International Olympiad in Informatics, whose finalists are drawn from a much larger selection pool. The problem format and scoring are shared, but the two results should not be equated.
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