Bella Chen: EGMO 2026 Report

April 3rd – 4th: Pre-EGMO Training

EGMO 2026 begins with a two-day training camp on the Friday and Saturday before we depart. I meet my teammates for dinner on Friday and Sophie earns her reputation as the potato lover by devouring half of our second order of fries. Afterwards, we meet Brena (who is in severe need of sleep) and try some algebra.

On Saturday, we sit our first mock. We perform well, which gives us hope for our upcoming EGMO performance (we are set up for extreme disappointment). To be fair, we may have rigged the mark scheme.

April 5th – 6th: Travel Days

I wake up early on Sunday morning because I have pushed packing until the last possible moment. We meet at the airport at dix-huit heures and spend an hour checking in before embarking to Shanghai. Isabelle tries to teach Sophie and I Landlord, whisper-shouting at us to ‘bomb them’ until she realizes that’s not a great thing to say on a plane. I try to lock in at Shanghai airport but keep getting distracted by window shopping. In seven hours, I finish two problems. Yay?

On the next flight to Amsterdam, I lock in with Isabelle on some EGMO problems. It’s pitch dark because the other passengers are sane and sleeping. Long story short, we conclude that we can solve problems – when we work together. The final flight from Amsterdam to Bordeaux is two hours and we arrive shortly before midnight.

April 7th - 8th: Pre-EGMO Bordeaux

We meet up at 9:30 for a pastry tour which is yum. Sophie instructs us to shake a fizzy orange soda – I don’t know the physics, but it doesn’t explode. We meet with the Australians in the afternoon, and we go on a train tour of the city before moving to a restaurant for dinner. They’re sitting three mocks to our two, and I share my hopes for an ACG combination. This is the moment I gain an ability to curse problems.

The next day, we sit our second mock, and I am happy to discover my anticipated ACG combination. Yeah no. I spend around three and a half hours on Q4, which is a simple inequality. I write forty pages of proof and die a little inside at the ragebait of always being exactly one step away from the final answer. To salvage my mental health, I step away from Q4 and spend around an hour total on Q5, where I get the important idea of monochromatic triangles without writing it down. Lesson learnt: WRITE IDEAS DOWN.

After Josie and Brena share the solutions, I compliment my life decisions as I realize that all the problems had one page solves. As a team, we get a total of seven points. When we meet the Australians for Avalon and dinner afterwards, we ask them to guess our collective mark. They ambitiously begin the bidding at 60. ?

April 9th - 10th: Arrival Day and Opening Ceremony

The first official day of EGMO has begun! Unlike last year, all contestants share a hotel – but New Zealand has unfortunately been split into opposite floors. We unwrap our merch – a backpack with all kinds of goodies and a bag of canelés – a rum and vanilla pastry Bordeaux is famous for. I spend the afternoon joining the Australians in sticking koalas on everyone.

The next day, alongside our guide Duncan, our team and Brena traverse Bordeaux in a scavenger hunt. It is freezing, but all four of us decide to go out in short sleeves. I am the most egregious offender – I combine my shirt with shorts and sandals, a decision I quickly regret. We walk over 16000 steps.

In the afternoon, we have the opening ceremony. Our bags are checked – but obviously nothing is found since Isabelle used all the bombs up on the plane. The speeches this year are all interesting if dark – paraphrased from Isabelle Gallagher, ‘the institutions of mathematics and sciences are being disvalued, but we must all remember the value of thought and reflection.’

This year, contestants are invited up to the stage as their countries are called. My hands are red with clapping by the end of it, but we manage to be the loudest team. I am careful to hold the flag the right way round as we step on stage, and we wave.

April 11th: Contest Day 1

Day 1 is doubly cursed by Isabelle and me. Right before the competition, I beg the world to give me anything but a functional equation. Isabelle tries to reassure me, saying: ‘functional equations are going out of fashion!’ Not ten minutes later, I open my exam paper to find Q3 a functional equation.

I finish Q1 within one hour, conjecturing that the smallest combination occurs when only the middle four squares are colored red. I spend around half an hour trying to wrestle my solution into sounding somewhat neat before moving to Q2. Q2 crashes and burns my budding hope. I take two hours to conjecture the correct answer of the n! bound for 2a, and I’m unable to fully prove it before the time is up. I find 2/3 of the correct answers for Q3, but that’s not enough to gain a mark. Altogether, I get 7-1-0.

April 12th: Contest Day 2

On the plane, I told Isabelle that I would be happy with a Q1 or Q4 algebra. Curse my ability to curse questions - we got a Q4 algebra. Absolutely certain that this problem could be inducted, I spent pretty much the entire time trying to strong induct, only to hear from Josie at the end that there were no solutions that included strong induction. My end score ended up being 1-0-0.

In the future, I need to think more outside the box and not box out any ideas for being too easy. Olympiad questions are not how they seem – I can’t rely on what ‘should work.’ I need to pivot quicker on ideas.

April 13th -14th: Excursions and Closing Ceremony

After the exams, we spend the next two days travelling through parts of France. On our first excursion, we travel to Saint-Emilion, where we explore ancient catacombs and vineyards. The next day, we go to the sand dunes of Pilat and Arcachon Bay. I join the Aussies in trying to hike up a dune, and we chill at the top before running down. I trip, ending up with sand in a few uncomfortable places.

Jane Street hosts a dinner event, including karaoke, puzzles, and all forms of food and drinks. Girls from all parts of the world join in solving puzzles, and we quickly connect. I think that generally these events strongly motivate girls into following math and science related careers because they often appear so unreachable otherwise. Meeting so many other girls who share similar interests gives you a lot of perspective into how you can keep following this passion for math in the future. Additionally, being firsthand introduced into various careers by companies like Citadel, or Jane Street, gives you insights into available future pathways and makes going into science and math in the future seem a lot more approachable.

At long last, EGMO 2026 concluded with the closing ceremony. We celebrated the results of all those who had participated. Although I was somewhat disappointed in my performance, I enjoyed celebrating everyone who I had grown close with. French music played as people walked across the stage, and I took photos.

The end of EGMO is celebrated by a large party back at the hotel, filled with food, presents from Jane Street, and games. I go down for the food but move upstairs once the party begins. As the night drags on, I move to South Africa’s rooms along with NZL2, some Aussies and UNKs, and a collection of other girls. We play games (and sing karaoke horrifically off tune) all night. My first all nighter!

April 15th – 17th: Travel Back

We manage to accomplish a variety of things on the way back:

1. NZL3 loses her passport. We lose her in Amsterdam while she waits for a replacement.
2. We go on a sidequest in Shanghai to explore a mall.
3. I lose my suitcase in Shanghai because my ‘pack of cards’ is actually a powerbank

Reflection

Overall, I found EGMO a very fulfilling and fun experience. The friendships formed with the other contestants was invaluable, and we were offered so many amazing opportunities to meet and connect with like-minded people. We were exposed to so many inspiring female figures and given a glimpse at possible futures in math and science. Thank you so much to all the other contestants, who made this experience so inspirational and amazing. Shout out to the Aussies and to my fellow all-nighters – you generated so much laughter and the friendships formed made EGMO so much better. Thank you to all the sponsors who made this experience possible, especially Jane Street. Thank you to our guide, Duncan, for joking with us and helping to make our experience in Bordeaux so fun. Thank you to my teammates, Sophie, Isabelle, and Jackie, for all the support and memories we have shared. Thank you, Mrs Kim, for organizing this trip and for supporting us in the little things. A huge thank you to Josie and Brena for fighting for our marks and for your encouragement and dedication. Finally, thank you to my family for supporting me every step of the way. This experience would not have been possible without you.