International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a sport programming world competition held under the auspices of ACM. At the beginning ACM ICPC participants were mostly from USA and Canada Universities. In 1990, the competition’s geographical reach extended to other continents. Russian universities took part in ACM ICPC for the first time in 1993. Since Russian teams have joined the competition, they were not only the finals participants, but also the championship winners for 8 times! The record-holder is ITMO University, whose teams became champions for five times. Moreover, students of Saint Petersburg State University won the cup of ACM ICPC for three times, and one victory is on account of Saratov State University. Not only teams from these universities are going to participate in the World Finals in Morocco: teams from Moscow State University, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), Higher School of Economics, Kazan Federal University and other Russian universities are also among the competition participants.

There are many ways to improve skills to prepare for the ACM ICPC finals. Every year, teams for sports programming attend summer and winter camp, organized specially for them in Petrozavodsk and Izhevsk, where, besides Russian programmers, teams from Poland, the Czech Republic, Japan, Ukraine and Belarus gather together. In addition, a dozen of open championships are held during the year, where it is possible to meet potential ACM ICPC finalists. Open All-Siberian Programming Contest, BSUIR Championship in Belarus, Vekua Cup in Tbilisi, Open Championship of the Republic of Tatarstan ICL and Ural Championship are among these events. The conditions of contests are as close as possible to the ACM ICPC conditions: the participating team, consisting of three people, has only one computer and five hours to solve 10 to 12 fairly difficult problems.

“Training allows building a mathematical model of the problem, being more precise and accurate in code writing. Knowledge of various solving algorithms, that accumulates throughout the students practice, will also help to orient in the tasks,” Maxim Buzdalov said. “All these skills, together with the the intellectual acumen, that helps to find nontrivial solutions, form a sports programmer. The championship evolves every year, so the teams coaches should always keep themselves in a good "sport" form. For example, Andrey Stankevich, the permanent coach of ITMO University, constantly participates in various individual programming contests.”
During the last month before the final of ACM ICPC all Russian participants mobilize their forces.
“Our university team will participate in the final contest for the first time,” Kamil Hadiev, the team coach of Kazan Federal University, told. “We are training thoroughly, so I think guys have good odds. This week we will take part in the Ural Championship in order to work out in conditions as close to the "battle" as possible once again. It is important for guys not only to fight for a championship medal, but also to enjoy the problem solving process.”
This year ITMO University in Morocco will be represented by Gennady Korotkevich, the first ever winner of the Grand Slam on sports programming, Artem Vasiliev and Boris Minaev.