Nine-Year-Old Phuket Boy Wins Two World Coding Titles
A nine-year-old Phuket boy claimed two world coding championship titles and World No. 1 rankings at the International STEM Olympiad in Rome, competing against students up to Grade 11.
PHUKET — 16 July 2026, A nine-year-old boy from Phuket has brought international recognition to Thailand after winning two world championship titles in coding and achieving the World No. 1 ranking at the International STEM Olympiad & Coding Olympiad – Grand Final 2026 in Rome, Italy.
Pavin Pattanavekin, known as Pace, who is currently in Grade 3, claimed the Global Champion – 1st Place title and the World No. 1 ranking in two major categories: the Codementum Grand Final (Grades 3–11) and the Codementum International Final, according to True Coding School Phuket.
The Grade 3 pupil competed against students from Grades 3 to 11 to secure both titles. Pace also received a Global Top 3 Gold Award in the Online Coding Exam Worldwide Winners competition, bringing his coding achievements this year to two Global Champion titles (World No. 1), two Global Top 3 Gold Awards and one gold medal.
In the STEM competitions, he won another Global Top 3 Gold Award in the Mathematics Olympiad (Grades 3–5) Grand Final, as well as a gold medal in the Science Olympiad (Grades 3–5) Grand Final.
The International STEM Olympiad & Coding Olympiad – Grand Final 2026 is a global platform that brings together young participants from around the world. Organisers said the event attracted participants from more than 153 countries, representing 1,700 schools, more than 2,100 teachers and over 38,000 students.
This achievement builds on Pace's success in 2025, when he won three gold medals at the Coding Olympiad Grand Final in New York City, including a first-place finish in one of the competitions, before going on to claim two world championship titles in 2026.
True Coding School Phuket said Pace's achievements reflected his strengths in computational thinking, coding, logical reasoning and problem-solving, as well as his determination to develop his skills and challenge himself on the international stage while once again bringing recognition to Thailand.
