Academic Centre
This year's selection competition was notable for its large number of participants, with a total of 9 LU student teams, 1 RTU student team, and 4 high school teams (from the Engineering High School of RTU and Pirmā Programmēšanas skola). The competition consisted of solving 12 problems over 5 hours, with each team having only one computer. In recent years, LU has seen an increase in skilled programmers, and this year’s battle for the spot in the semifinals was fierce.
The team "Mazmazītiņie Pipariņi", consisting of Ansis Gustavs Andersons, Valters Kalniņš, and Matīss Kristiņš, claimed the first place with a significant lead, solving 11 problems. Although they left one task unsolved, they were the only team to tackle 3 other difficult problems. The second-place team, "Lielie Kabači", composed of Raivis Atteka, Krišjānis Petručeņa, and Kristaps Štāls, solved 8 problems. The third-place team, "DROP TABLE", consisting of Ivo Mezits, Kristofers Barkāns, and Emīls Lecinskis, also solved 8 problems but took more time to complete them. Notably, some members of the first two teams – Valters Kalniņš, Matīss Kristiņš, and Krišjānis Petručeņa – won a bronze medal for Latvia at last year’s ICPC semifinal (CERC 2024) and participated in the first-ever European final (EUC 2024) in spring. Ansis Gustavs Andersons, meanwhile, won a gold medal for Latvia in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI 2024) in September, marking the first gold for Latvia in the past 8 years. Over the next two months, both teams will train to perform optimally at the semifinal in Poland.
In addition to the university teams, 4 school teams also participated this year. The best-performing school team was "KAD", consisting of Jelizaveta Deņisova, Kitija Kampiņa, and Edgars Andersons, who solved 6 problems and placed 5th overall. These students are attending the programming courses at Pirmā programmēšanas skola. The RTU team "2_PMs_1_dev", consisting of Adriāns Piliksers, Patriks Gustavs Rinkevičs, and Dāvis Ērglis, solved 4 problems and placed 8th overall. Alongside the Latvian teams, university teams from Lithuania also participated in the competition, with the best result among them being achieved by the team "Hope It Passes" from Vilnius University, who solved 7 problems.
The full competition results are available here: https://codeforces.com/spectator/ranklist/de38f240993937bb30f596b1d85a69af
For the detailed results of Latvian teams and tasks, see:
The selection competition was organized by the Computer Science Department’s assoc.prof. Jevgēnijs Vihrovs, prof. Guntis Arnicāns, researcher Krišjānis Prūsis, and previous ICPC finalists Pēteris Pakalns and Kārlis Seņko.
The participation of LU student teams in ICPC competitions is supported by “Gravity Team” and Wulf Harder. Donations are administered by the University of Latvia Foundation.
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