Who is Agastya Goel? Indian-origin teen photographed with Trump after US Physics olympiad win

Who is Agastya Goel?

The United States Physics Team achieved a historic feat at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Paris, winning all five gold medals. Team members Agastya Goel, Allen Li, Joshua Wang, Feodor Yevtushenko, and Brian Zhang delivered the country’s best-ever performance in the competition.

Following their victory, the five young gold medallists were welcomed at the White House by US President Donald Trump.

Michael Kratsios, a senior aide to Trump, shared a photo of the team with the President on X, writing: “Today POTUS & WHOSTP47 were proud to welcome the 2025 World Champion USA Physics Team to the White House! These incredible geniuses DOMINATED at the International Physics Olympiad in July, bringing home a record FIVE gold medals, the greatest performance in team history.”

The White House event celebrated the exceptional achievement of the students, marking a historic milestone for the US at the IPhO and highlighting their dedication and talent in physics.

Who is Agastya Goel?

Agastya Goel, a 17-year-old junior at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, has established himself as a rising star in the world of science competitions. The Indian-origin student, son of Stanford professor Ashish Goel, was among 34 gold medallists at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Paris, contributing to the U.S. team’s historic sweep of all five gold medals.

Agastya’s achievements go beyond physics. He has been a USACO finalist for three consecutive years (2022-2024), won silver at the 2023 USA Physics Olympiad, and earned an Honourable Mention in 2022. He also participated in the elite Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP) in 2023 and contributed to PRIMES-USA.

Between 2021 and 2024, Agastya worked part-time at Euler Circle in Palo Alto, co-authoring a mathematics paper later published in The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics. Multilingual in Hindi and Spanish, he pursues a wide array of extracurricular activities, including tennis, hiking, stargazing, singing, playing guitar and piano, frisbee, and board games.

At school, he is active in the Gunn Board Game Club, Gunn Competitive Programming Club, varsity tennis team, and Gunn Choir, reflecting a broad set of interests. His accomplishments have brought recognition not only to himself but also to the U.S. Physics Team, which celebrated a record-breaking performance at the IPhO.