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Not your average nerd: Meet the Gurugram teen who clinched gold for India at International Chemistry Olympiad
17-year-old Kabir Chhillar won a gold medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026 in Uzbekistan. He talks about how he balances hours of study with his passions for sports, music and more.
When you think of someone who has won a gold medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026, topped JEE Mains with a perfect score of 300/300 securing AIR 1, and secured AIR 2 in JEE Advanced, you might imagine a serious, bookish geek whose life revolves around academics. But 17-year-old Kabir Chhillar is quick to dismiss that stereotype.
Away from textbooks and laboratories, Chhillar is also a national-level chess player, a district-level footballer, and a guitarist. “Yes, to win a gold at the world stage, I have put in hours of work and studies for nights on stretch, but I have also gone out and explore my love for sports,” says the Computer Science Engineering student at IIT Bombay, adding, “I have a many other passions than just academics, and that is the key to excelling. I know as a student I can be portrayed as a nerd or a geek. But I am not your quintessential geek. I love my sports and music. And yes, it’s not classical music, I am a fan of Drake and all things hip-hop!”
Despite representing India on one of the biggest academic stages, he says he never lets the magnitude of the occasion overwhelm him. “If I focus too much on ‘Woah, I am representing my country, this is a huge stage’, I might not succeed as much. It’s not where I am competing, I just like to compete. I take a football match as seriously as I would take the Chemistry Olympiad.”
But all this glory doesn’t mean he didn’t have to learn how to deal with disappointment. “When I got rank 2 in JEE Advanced, it was not that it bogged me down. But I missed it by just one mark, which sure pinched me,” says Chhillar, adding, “But then, at the end of the day, ranks are just a byproduct and not entirely it all.”
With an extraordinary list of achievements to his name, Kabir, who is a student of computer science at IIT Bombay, shres his greatest dream that still lies ahead: “I want to be in outer space. I want to be an astronaut; which I will make happen!”
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