With the triathlon events of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games now less than a month away, the start lists have revealed the 64 athletes from 63 nations ready to do battle on the biggest stage of their lives at the sprint-distance Saly Beach course on 5-6 November.
As the hosts, Senegal are the only nation to have an athlete in both the men’s and women’s races, with the following male-female split across the remaining countries taking to the line:
Men: Austria, Bermuda, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Denmark, Fiji, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
Women: Algeria, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Palau, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Zimbabwe.
Ousmane Thiaw and Coura Sall represent Senegal, both with precious local experience from the Saly Development Regional Cup last November, which saw Thiaw take bronze in the men's race and Sall finished strong to earn silver after a 13:01 time for the 2.9km run, easily the quickest of the field on the day.
Starting with the women's line up, Kimey Casanova (SUI) arrives as one to watch after claiming a superb bronze at the Junior World Championships in Pontevedra, matching the same result she earned at the European Sprint Championships back in July.
Hungary’s Jazmin Kropko finished the Junior Worlds in fifth and undoubtedly comes into the race as another with strong podium potential. Second at the Tiszaújváros Junior Cup in June and fourth in Caorle, Kropko is also a Junior World Aquathlon Champion and will be looking to set the early pace through the 750m swim.
Australia’s Piper Anderson finished just outside the top 10 in Spain, and earlier this year she took silver at the Oceania Junior Championships and gold in the junior mixed relay, underlining her medal credentials.
Enge Xu (CHN) is the reigning Asian Youth Games champion. She won in Bahrain last October ahead of fellow starters Indonesia’s Aira Martha Ardistri in third and Korea’s Eunsol Bae in ninth.
Manuela Ortega Arteaga of Ecuador has dominated youth racing in the Americas with two continental youth titles, in Calima in 2025 and Antofagasta in July. She also won the Iberoamerican youth race in Maldonado, the South American Junior Games in Panama and the Lima Junior Cup in August.
In the men’s race, Japan’s Daiki Nishizaki arrives as 2025 Asia Junior champion and took silver at the Asia Junior Championships in Hong Kong in March. He was 28th in the junior race at Pontevedra, the highest male finisher at this year’s junior worlds of any of the starters in Dakar, and up from his 45th at Wollongong last year.
Ziad Bouchikha (MAR) won the Africa Junior Cup in El Galala in September 2025 and holds continental age-group titles at U13 and 14-15 levels. He has finished behind another strong contender Youssef Slama (TUN) twice: ninth to Slama's sixth at the African Junior Championships, and fourth in Saly when Slama won the Development Regional Cup in this venue, making the Tunisian a name to watch.
Alessandro Diego Cortez Delgado (MEX) was second in the youth race at the Iberoamerican Championships in Maldonado last December and holds his own in elite Americas Cups, placing 12th at Callao Lima in August and 14th at Ixtapa.
Ramazan Ainegov (KAZ) is the Asia Super Sprint youth champion, winning in Xuzhou in June, and took silver at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain. He has won Asia Junior Cups in Subic Bay, Turkestan and Kampar, and was third in the Asia Junior Championships Hong Kong behind Nishizaki.
Raimundo Vicente San Martín Naranjo (CHI) won the South American Junior Games in Panama in April, both the individual race and the mixed relay. He was also the 2024 South American youth champion in La Guaira, and finished 50th in Pontevedra.
