German team wins four medals at the 56th International Chemistry Olympiad 2024 in Riyadh

The hosts from Saudi Arabia invited 327 participants from 81 countries to the 56th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) in the capital Riyadh from July 21 to 30, 2024 under the slogan “Build the Bonds”. Four students qualified for the German national team of the IChO 2024 in four selection rounds from more than 1,500 participants. They brought home four medals from the international competition: Konrad Jannes Köhler (Wilhelm-Ostwald-Gymnasium Leipzig, Saxony), Timur Malikov (Theodor-Fliedner-Gymnasium Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia) and Paulina Sievert (Weinberg-Gymnasium, Kleinmachnow, Brandenburg) each won silver, while a bronze medal went to Magnus Güldenpfennig (Otto-von-Taube-Gymnasium Gauting, Bavaria). This puts the German team in an excellent 22nd place in the unofficial country ranking based on points.

Dr. Frank Witte (IChO Competition Director) from the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) is delighted with the result: “We are very proud of the result. Three silver and one bronze medal are a great success for our team. Special thanks go to the team behind the team, who made this achievement possible in the first place: The Förderverein Chemie-Olympiade e.V. and all the supervisors in the competition. I would also like to thank the Technical University of Munich TUM and the Deutsches Museum in Munich, who provided our team with excellent support during the preparations.”

Before the German delegation set off for the desert state, the young talents could hone their theoretical and practical skills in the chemistry laboratory at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Kerschensteiner Kolleg at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The Deutsches Museum provided a theory and practice balance to the technical preparation program: team members took an exciting guided tour through the chemistry exhibition, enjoyed scanning electron microscopy and wandered through the exhibitions on their own. They were also supported by members of the Förderverein Chemie-Olympiade e.V.: the two former national team members Frederik Walter (2020) and Xincheng Miao (2017) answered questions about chemistry as well as the course of the international event.

During their stay in Riyadh, the talented young students competed in two five-hour exams, one of which included experiments and was held in the laboratories of King Saud University. The Saudi hosts offered an extensive cultural program on the other days: the students visited the Saudi World Heritage Site Dirʿiyya, the National Library and an Arabian horse breeding farm. “But the best thing was getting to know the many other national teams,” says Paulina Sievert.   

In addition to Dr. Frank Witte (Competition Director IChO) from the IPN, Alexander Bonkowski and Dr. Felicitas Niekiel (Förderverein Chemie-Olympiade e. V. FChO) traveled to Riyadh as mentors and technical observers. Among other things, they were responsible for reviewing and translating the exams from English into German. They managed to expand the network they had built up over the past few years with the other German-speaking delegations from Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium and Liechtenstein.

The annual selection competition for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), the Chemistry Olympiad in Germany, is organized by the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Kiel on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and in cooperation with the Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs of the federal states. Further information can be found at www.chemieolympiade.de.

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