"Andolšek was the best of the best. Aside from taking the overall victory, he won two of the three categories, astronomical observation and analysis of astronomical data," the Ljubljana Faculty of Mathematics and Physics said.

Andolšek, a student at the Gimnazija Bežirad in Ljubljana, had won gold twice before but this is the first time he emerged as the overall winner.

Owing to his latest feat, listeners of Val 202, the second channel of Radio Slovenija, picked Andolšek the name of the week on 21 August. Heading home, he was unavailable to comment on the achievement but will speak on the radio next week.

In the ten years since Slovenian students have been participating in the competition, this is the second time that Slovenia has had an overall winner. Aleksej Jurca won the event in Thailand in 2017.

The event in Chorzow, Poland featured 250 competitors from 50 countries between 10 and 20 August. The Slovenian team won one gold, two silvers and a bronze.

The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics is an annual competition. It is one of the international science Olympiads.