Junior world bronze medallist Kimey Casanova (SUI) won the Youth Women's title at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, outrunning Jázmin Kropkó (HUN) for gold, while Evamaria Albert (EST) broke clear of María Romero Lopez (ESP) on the final lap to take bronze.
Kimey Casanova came to Saly as the form athlete of the field and left as Youth Olympic champion. The 16-year-old Swiss ran the fastest 5km of the day, 18:06, to win Friday's Youth Women's race in 58:58, 21 seconds clear of Hungary's Jázmin Kropkó. Estonia's Evamaria Albert took bronze in 59:37, 10 seconds ahead of Spain's María Romero Lopez after a duel that lasted almost the entire run.
Casanova is the first European to win the women's Youth Olympic triathlon title, after champions from Asia (Yuka Sato, Singapore 2010), Oceania (Brittany Dutton, Nanjing 2014) and Africa (Amber Schlebusch, Buenos Aires 2018), and she goes one better than compatriot Anja Weber's bronze eight years ago. The top two also confirmed the order from the Junior World Championships in Pontevedra in September, where Casanova took bronze and Kropkó finished fifth, 19 seconds behind her.
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