Junior world bronze medallist Kimey Casanova leads a field from 32 nations into Friday's sprint on Saly Beach, the first Olympic triathlon ever raced on African soil. On Friday 6 November, 32 athletes aged 16 and 17 line up for the Youth Women's race at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. It is the last of the two triathlon medal events in Saly, a day after the men open the programme, and the fourth time triathlon has crowned Youth Olympic champions.
The field is truly global: 32 nations from five continents, from Switzerland and Hungary to Palau, the Cook Islands and host nation Senegal. For most of them it is the biggest race of their lives so far. For a handful, it is a first chance to write their name alongside the stars who have come through the Youth Olympic Games before them.
Triathlon at Dakar 2026: the venue and the day
Dakar 2026 runs from 31 October to 13 November and makes Senegal the first African country ever to host an official Olympic event. Saly Beach Ouest, on the coast south of the capital, is home to six beach and water sports at these Games: triathlon, rowing, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, windsurfing and beach handball.
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.
A Youth Olympic story that started with triathlon
Triathlon has been part of every Youth Olympic Games, and the women's race in Singapore in 2010 awarded the very first Youth Olympic medal of all time, won by Japan's Yuka Sato. Australia's Brittany Dutton took gold in Nanjing in 2014 and South Africa's Amber Schlebusch won in Buenos Aires in 2018, so three different continents have produced the three champions so far.
Previous editions also featured a mixed relay with athletes paired across national boundaries into continental teams, and Team Europe won all three titles. Schlebusch's 2018 gold is the only women's Youth Olympic title won by an African athlete, which gives Friday's African starters, Taylor Foster (RSA) above all, an extra story to race for on home continent.
Athletes to watch
Two Europeans arrive with the strongest junior form, but the Americas, Africa and Asia all send continental champions. Results below are from the TRI results database unless another source is linked.
Kimey Casanova (SUI)
Born in 2010 and still only 16, Casanova took bronze at the Junior World Championships in Pontevedra in September, finishing 1:18 behind Hungary's Fanni Szalai to make it a Swiss double on the podium with Anouk Danna. That medal followed bronze at the European Junior Sprint Championships in Elbląg, a win at the Wels Junior Cup and silver in Olsztyn. She was sixth at the European Youth Championships in Melilla last month, 23 seconds off the win, and has seven podiums from 12 career starts.
Jázmin Kropkó (HUN)
Kropkó was fifth at those Junior Worlds, just 19 seconds behind Casanova after a battle for bronze. Her swim is a genuine weapon: she is the 2025 world junior aquathlon champion, finishing third in the elite race on the same day, and added the European junior aquathlon title in Banyoles this July. Silver at the Tiszaújváros Junior Cup and fourth in Caorle complete a consistent season.
Manuela Ortega Arteaga (ECU)
The Americas' form athlete has won six of her 12 career starts, including two continental youth titles (Calima 2025 and Antofagasta 2026), the South American Junior Games in Panama and the Lima Junior Cup in August. From Cuenca, she was introduced to the sport by her sister Tábata during the pandemic and grew up looking up to four-time Olympian Elizabeth Bravo. Sport runs through the family, with basketball on her father's side and athletics on her mother's. Asked about Dakar, her answer was simple: she always aims for gold.
Piper Anderson (AUS)
Anderson finished 13th at the Junior Worlds, the third-best Dakar starter in Pontevedra, after silver at the Oceania Junior Championships in Devonport. The Gold Coast athlete is part of AusTriathlon's Aspire Talent Squad, coached by two-time Olympian Aaron Royle. Australia has a proud YOG record, with medals in 2010 and gold through Brittany Dutton in 2014.
Enge Xu (CHN)
Xu is the reigning Asian Youth Games champion, winning in Bahrain last October in 30:18 ahead of teammate Bian Zijia, with Indonesia's Aira Martha Ardistri, also in Dakar, in bronze. Afterwards she called that gold "only the beginning of my journey as a real athlete". With only two international starts on record, she is the least-known quantity among the contenders.
Taylor Foster (RSA)
The 2026 South African junior champion from KwaZulu-Natal has won five of her nine career starts. This year she won the Ebotse and Swakopmund Junior Cups, took silver at the Africa Junior Championships in El Galala and at Mossel Bay, and finished 27th at the Junior Worlds. She will hope to follow Amber Schlebusch as South Africa's second YOG champion.
Avalyn Thompson (USA)
The only US triathlete in Dakar, Thompson qualified with silver at the North American Junior Championships in La Paz in March. She trains with SLAP Tri Team in Clermont, Florida, coached by Sara McLarty and Jodie Stimpson, did her first triathlon at eight and was among the first recipients of the Gwen Jorgensen Scholarship Fund. Her approach to the big day: "There's no point in being scared, because I'm doing this either way".
Coura Sall (SEN)
The home favourite knows Saly better than anyone in the field. On her only international start, at the Saly Development Regional Cup last November, she took silver and ran 13:01 for 2.9km, the fastest run of the day. Senegal is the only nation with an athlete in both races, and Sall will carry the home crowd on Friday.
Also in the mix
• Saleha Nerddjes Berrached (ALG): silver at the Africa Youth Championships in Hurghada in October and seven podiums from nine starts; bronze in Saly last year.
• Rachel O'Donoghue (ZIM): won the Mossel Bay and Blue Bay Junior Cups this year and took elite bronze in Troutbeck aged 15.
• Lia Depret (BEL): ninth at the European Youth Championships and third at the Jūrmala Junior Cup; a former footballer from Chimay coached in part by her father, an Ironman finisher.
• Tunde Georgiana Crisan (ROU): won the Gallipoli Development Regional Cup in June with the fastest bike split, after silver in Mamaia.
• Victoria Arce Nuñez (CRC): silver at the Lima Junior Cup behind Ortega; took up triathlon in 2021 at her sister Valeria's suggestion.
• Catalina Moreno Velasco (COL): silver behind Ortega at the South American Junior Games and fourth in Lima.
• Aira Martha Ardistri (INA): Asian Youth Games bronze and silver at the New Taipei Junior Cup in October.
• Maša Marković (SRB): 2025 Balkan youth champion and third at the Vlasina Lake Development Regional Cup this July.
• María Romero Lopez (ESP): a versatile multisporter who was fifth among the juniors at the European Aquathlon Championships in Banyoles in July and seventh at the European Junior Cross Triathlon Championships on the same Catalan venue; 18th at the European Youth Championships in Melilla last month.
