Utku Erenoğlu wins gold and earns Turkey place at world final

Récit recueilli par Miguel Fernandes · 1 octobre 2026 · 2 min de lecture

Utku Erenoğlu has won a gold medal at the Turkish stage of the WMTC/PWMTC competition and earned the chance to represent Türkiye at the World Final in Thailand in December 2026. For his mother, the result is only the latest sign of a journey that began long before medals, in the small and striking questions he asked as a child.

Long before school competitions, mathematics was already something that made him happy. His mother says he would approach strangers when he was four or five and ask them to test him with a maths question. That early curiosity grew into a pattern of working in his own way, looking for different solutions and taking pleasure in numbers.

Growing with mathematics

At school, Utku stood out not only for his interest in mathematics but also for the way he responded to difficulty. He entered one of Türkiye’s successful science high schools after placing in approximately the top 0.4% in the national high school entrance examination, then began taking part more actively in mathematics competitions at national and international level.

His record includes gold medals at SASMO and AMO, two gold medals at SIMOC, where he also placed 5th worldwide, and a bronze medal at the International Youth Math Challenge. He also passed the first stage of the TÜBİTAK Mathematics Olympiad and decided to try the challenge again.

What his mother values just as highly is what he does with what he learns. After a competition trip to Singapore, he returned home and recreated parts of the experience using cardboard and simple materials. He then organised a school competition called Math Warriors, followed by a mathematics olympiad that attracted around 110 students.

He is now planning to give mathematics lessons during his lunch break for students who did well, giving up part of his own time to help them improve. His mother says, “For me, one of his greatest achievements is that he has never wanted to keep what he learns only for himself.”

Beyond medals

Utku’s life is not limited to mathematics. He has been part of his school theatre club, trained in taekwondo, and won first place in a literature debate competition at school. He also loves animals and nature, and climbing mountains.

His mother describes him as curious and ambitious, with persistence and a strong sense of fairness that has shaped how he treats others. Mathematics has taught him that when a problem cannot be solved, it does not always mean failure.