On Thursday 5 November, the Youth Men open the triathlon programme at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. Thirty-two athletes aged 16 and 17 from 32 nations line up on Saly Beach in the first Olympic triathlon ever held on African soil.
A record 63 National Olympic Committees have secured quota places, representing the largest and most diverse field in the sport's Youth Olympic history. For many young triathletes, a YOG start line is their first taste of elite international competition under the Olympic banner — an experience that shapes careers, builds Olympic values, and inspires communities. World Triathlon, the Continental Confederations and its national federations have invested deeply in this vision, developing pathways that give talented young athletes the opportunity to compete on the world stage long before they reach senior age.
The form book points in several directions. Europe's youth title was decided by two seconds last month, Asia sends its 2025 junior champion and its super sprint youth champion, and Tunisia's Slama has already beaten a senior field on the Saly coast. For the host nation, Ousmane Thiaw carries Senegal's hopes in front of a home crowd.
Triathlon at Dakar 2026
Dakar 2026 runs from 31 October to 13 November and makes Senegal the first African country ever to host an official Olympic event. The Games are spread across three zones, Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, and triathlon belongs to the seaside one. Saly Beach Ouest, on the coast south of the capital, hosts six beach and water sports at these Games: triathlon, rowing, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, windsurfing and beach handball.
Everything is ready in Senegal for the sprint race: 750m sea swim off Saly Beach, 20km on the bike and a 5km run to crown the YOG champion. Each National Olympic Committee could send one athlete per gender, with Senegal granted one man and one woman as hosts; places were shared out by continent, with 11 for Europe, six each for Africa, Asia and the Americas and three for Oceania.
The race starts on the beach with a single 750m lap of the swim. The 20km bike opens with a 300m connection to a 6,455m circuit, which the athletes ride three times before a 325m connection back to transition. The 5km run is three laps of 1,640m, with the final 40m taking them to the finish line, so the crowd in Saly will see the field pass several times on both the bike and the run.
The Youth Men will race on Thursday 5 November and the Youth Women follow on Friday 6 November.
From Youth Olympic podiums to the Olympic Games
Triathlon has featured at every Youth Olympic Games, and the men's podiums have proved a reliable guide to future Olympians. New Zealand has won two of the three titles, through Aaron Barclay in Singapore 2010 and Dylan McCullough in Buenos Aires 2018, with Great Britain's Ben Dijkstra taking Nanjing 2014 in a photo finish.
Singapore silver medallist Kevin McDowell finished sixth at Tokyo 2020 individual race and then finished in second place, silver medal, at the Mixed Relay, then the best Olympic result by a US man. Bronze medallist Alois Knabl also raced in Tokyo, and two of the 2018 medallists, McCullough and Alesio Crociani, went on to race at Paris 2024. No African man has yet stood on a Youth Olympic triathlon podium, a gap Slama, Bouchikha and Thiaw will all have in mind on home continent.
Athletes to watch
No man in the field has a junior world podium, which leaves the race open between continental champions.
Artur Gaspar (POR)
At 16, Gaspar is the newly crowned European youth champion. In Melilla last month he was fourth into T2, took the lead with a quick transition and ran the fastest split to win by two seconds, having only just made the final as sixth in his semi. It was his first international win in six starts. Portugal's last Youth Olympic triathlon medal was Alexandre Montez's silver in 2018.
Emile Vanolst (LUX)
Vanolst pushed Gaspar all the way in Melilla, finishing two seconds behind him. He was 30th at the Junior Worlds in Pontevedra, the second-best Dakar starter there, and fourth at the Zagreb Junior Cup in September. The Trispeed club athlete is part of Team Luxembourg at his first Youth Olympic Games.
Youssef Slama (TUN)
Nobody in the field knows Saly like Slama. Last November he won the elite race at the Saly Development Regional Cup by two and a half minutes, and in October he was crowned Africa youth champion in Hurghada, 17 seconds clear of the UAE's Maximilian Hoehn. He has won four of his ten career starts, including the Blue Bay Junior Cup in Mauritius in June, and took silver in Yasmine Hammamet in a photo finish behind compatriot Mohamed Amine Khemais.
Ramazan Ainegov (KAZ)
The Kazakh is the most prolific winner in the field, with six wins from 16 starts. He won the Asia Super Sprint youth title in Xuzhou in June by a single second, and took silver at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain, seven seconds behind China's Li Yansong. Bronze at the Asia Junior Championships in Hong Kong and wins at the Subic Bay and Turkestan Junior Cups confirm his consistency, although he did not finish at the Junior Worlds.
Daiki Nishizaki (JPN)
Nishizaki was 28th at the Junior Worlds in Pontevedra, the highest finish of any Dakar starter. He is the 2025 Asia junior champion, winning in Aqaba from a four-man breakaway he built on the bike. In Hong Kong in March he took silver behind teammate Konosuke Uchida, five seconds ahead of Ainegov, a rivalry that could resurface in Saly.
Ziad Bouchikha (MAR)
Bouchikha won the Africa Junior Cup in El Galala in September 2025 and holds continental age-group titles at U13 and 14-15 level. In Hurghada last month he took youth bronze behind Slama and bronze in the junior aquathlon. He also raced the Saly elite race last year, finishing fourth.
Raimundo Vicente San Martín Naranjo (CHI)
The South American Junior Games champion led from start to finish in Panama in April, winning in 57:32, and added mixed relay gold. He was South American youth champion in 2024 and finished 50th at the Junior Worlds.
Ousmane Thiaw (SEN)
The home athlete took bronze in the youth race at the Saly Development Regional Cup last November, his only international start. Senegal is the only nation with an athlete in both races, and Thiaw opens the host nation's triathlon campaign in front of a home crowd.
Also in the mix
• Alessandro Diego Cortez Delgado (MEX): silver in the youth race at the Iberoamerican Championships in Maldonado and Mexico's only triathlete in Dakar.
• Aaron Jesús Hernández Morales (VEN): fourth in Panama, 20 seconds behind San Martín, and third at the Asunción Development Regional Cup.
• Elias Medina Paolucci (URU): youth bronze at the South American Championships in Formosa after a close sprint finish, and third at the Lima Junior Cup.
• Gianluca Bortoli (BER): silver at the CARIFTA Championships in October and Bermuda's national sprint champion; also a 15:59 5000m runner.
• Robert Robin (KEN): Kenya's first Youth Olympic triathlete, fourth in the Saly youth race last year; coached by Abdallah Mansoor Abdallah and targeting a top-ten finish.
• Feher Moussa (KSA): silver at the New Taipei Junior Cup in October, a product of Saudi Triathlon's Elite Pathway programme.
• Matthew More (NZL): carries New Zealand's proud YOG record, with two of three titles; he is looking forward to meeting athletes from around the world who share his passion.
