Just read the preliminary questions yourself. The second problem is basically a logistics problem, and the last problem also requires writing an algorithm, which is a bit like a mathematical model. What students learn from pure numbers is totally different. I don't think I scored much on the second question. A few more points will not make it to the final.
As for Shen Wei and Nie Shen, it's normal to win the final prize, because the final result doesn't consider the preliminary results at all. The preliminary results are really just a standard test. It is normal for Wei Dongyi to take the first place in the analysis paper. He's PDE. I heard he didn't finish it. Nie Zipei is doing low-dimensional topology.
Triangulation or something is his thing. But to be honest, there are very few geometry exams this year. In fact, I only got 45 points, and I finished the third question completely. Algebra and application are both cluster candidates, and the competition is too fierce.
Gold content in the preliminary contest of Alibaba World Mathematics Competition;
As far as I know, this "global" math contest has not been promoted by the government at all in the non-Chinese world, so I am a little surprised that several foreign friends participated. Mehtaab was originally an undergraduate in our University of Pennsylvania. My two classmates were his TA, and later transferred to MIT.
Perhaps I heard about the competition from my classmates in his country. Most of the winners came from China and the United States, as if there were not many Europeans. I asked Lin, and he said that the competition was not publicized in the circle of China students in Europe, and he didn't know much about it, and the final time was in the early hours of most parts of Europe.