Gaspar and Casanova Take Triathlon Gold at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games

After Singapore in 2010, Nanjing (China) in 2014 and Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 2018, the Youth Olympic Games have made Dakar (Senegal) their home in 2026 for the fourth edition of this global event, which brings together rising athletes aged 15 to 17.

The opening ceremony, held on October 31 at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio, kicked off a historic edition, the first on the African continent. Until November 13, 2,700 young athletes from around the world will compete across the Olympic programme.

With 69 athletes entered (40 girls and 29 boys), the French team is the second-largest delegation at these Games, behind host nation Senegal. Led by its two flag bearers, Elsa Lepinay (baseball) and Raphaël de Boussac (coastal rowing), the French squad is flying the colours in every arena.

© JOJ

© JOJ

© JOJ

Vincent Luis ambassador for the triathlon events

The triathlon events took place on November 5 and 6, with Frenchman Vincent Luis as ambassador. Racing started from Saly beach over the sprint format (750 m / 20 km / 5 km).

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On Thursday, November 5, the men's race gathered 32 athletes, none of them French. Portugal's Artur Gaspar took the win in a tight race run in intense heat, so tight that two bronze medals were awarded.

The European junior champion delivers on the day

Artur Gaspar added Youth Olympic gold to his European title from Melilla. The Portuguese dropped Luxembourg's Emile Vanolst over the last two laps of the run. Behind them, Japan's Daiki Nishizaki and Kazakhstan's Ramazan Ainegov sprinted side by side down the blue finish carpet and stopped the clock at the same instant. The photo finish could not separate them, and each left Saly beach with a bronze medal.

This podium is a rematch of the Melilla race, where Gaspar beat Vanolst by two seconds to take the European junior title last month. This time the gap between the two was 10 seconds. At 16, the Portuguese gives his country its first men's triathlon title at the Youth Olympic Games, eight years after the silver medal won by Alexandre Montez in Buenos Aires.

A swim without wetsuits

The 32 athletes, representing 32 nations and all five continents, lined up on the beach for the first Olympic triathlon ever held in Africa. With water at 28.1 °C, wetsuits were banned. Big waves rolling onto Saly beach also made dolphin diving through the break a decisive skill, and some athletes handled it far better than others.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The single 750 m loop quickly strung out the field. North Macedonia's Mario Brezovski came out of the water first, with nine rivals within five seconds.

The chase group closes down the leaders on the bike

The ten leaders reached transition together after the short run from the water, then set off on three laps of the flat, fast 6.4 km circuit. Behind them, a chase group of around fifteen formed, with several particularly strong riders.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The gap held at around 30 seconds at halfway, but the chasers gradually picked up the pace. On the last lap, the chase group cut its deficit to 17 seconds. Then, in the final corner before transition, a crash brought the two packs back together. 23 athletes hit the second transition (T2) within 16 seconds of each other. The race would be decided over the 5 km run.

Gaspar pulls away, Nishizaki reels in Ainegov

Chile's Vicente San Martín and Venezuela's Jesus Hernández Morales were first out of T2, while Italy's Ludovico Trincheri led the pack through the first timing point. But by the end of the first of three run laps, Artur Gaspar had taken over at the front, with Emile Vanolst on his shoulder.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The Portuguese then steadily built his lead: three seconds at 2.5 km, six at 3.3 km and 12 at 4.1 km. He crossed the line 10 seconds clear, having posted the fastest run split of the day in 15:42.

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Emile Vanolst ran the second-fastest split and was never under threat for second place.

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The fight for bronze began on the first lap and never let up. Ainegov, who had made up a 23-second swim deficit thanks to the work of the chase group on the bike, broke away on the second lap and led Nishizaki by seven seconds at the halfway point of the run. The Japanese then picked up the pace to get back on his shoulder at 4.1 km, with Trincheri also in touch.

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The Italian could not hold the pace in the end, and the final 900 metres turned into a duel between Japan and Kazakhstan. Both athletes covered them in 3:02. They hit the blue finish carpet side by side in a sprint so close that the photo finish could not split them.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The pre-race favourites lived up to expectations

The next day, the women took over, with 32 on the start line. Among them was Frenchwoman Ambre Ugolini, 17, of the Issy Triathlon club, 2026 French youth champion and 20th at the most recent European Junior Championships.

But it was the bronze medallist from the latest World Junior Championships, Switzerland's Kimey Casanova, who won the women's title at these Youth Olympic Games. She finished ahead of Hungary's Jázmin Kropkó and Estonia's Evamaria Albert.

Casanova becomes the first European woman to win the Youth Olympic triathlon title, following champions from Asia (Yuka Sato, Singapore 2010), Oceania (Brittany Dutton, Nanjing 2014) and Africa (Amber Schlebusch, Buenos Aires 2018). She also improves on her compatriot Anja Weber, bronze medallist eight years ago. The top two also confirmed the pecking order set at the World Junior Championships in Pontevedra last September, where Casanova took bronze and Kropkó finished fifth.

Warm water and a fast start

Thirty-two athletes representing 32 nations and all five continents lined up on Saly beach at 8:15 am, the day after the men opened the triathlon programme. Heat and humidity were once again part of the story, but conditions proved less punishing than some had feared, with 28 °C in the air and 28.5 °C in the water, too warm for wetsuits to be allowed.

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© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The single 750 m loop favoured the strongest swimmers. Jázmin Kropkó, 2025 world junior aquathlon champion, came out of the water first, closely followed by China's Enge Xu and South Africa's Taylor Foster, two seconds back.

A crash, then a group of nine on the bike

Five women formed the lead group from the first of three laps on the 6.4 km bike circuit: France's Ambre Ugolini, Jázmin Kropkó, Kimey Casanova, Taylor Foster and Enge Xu, separated by just two seconds at 3.5 km.

At the end of the first lap, Xu crashed. The Asian Youth Games champion managed to get back on her bike but lost 43 seconds on that loop, and her medal hopes went with it.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

Behind her, five chasers steadily closed the gap during the second lap: 13 seconds down at 6.7 km, they bridged to the leaders around the 10 km mark. Nine women were now at the front, and they stayed together until the second transition (T2).

Casanova and Kropkó break away on the run

Kropkó left T2 in front and still led at the first timing point, 800 m in, five seconds ahead of Casanova. Evamaria Albert, Spain's Maria Romero Lopez and Taylor Foster were close behind. By the end of the first lap, the race had become a two-woman duel: Casanova had caught Hungary's Kropkó, and the pair now held a 10-second lead over their chasers.

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They ran together through the second lap, until Kropkó stumbled at an aid station, letting Casanova open up a few metres. The Hungarian pulled her back, but stumbled again on the final lap. With less than a kilometre to go, the Swiss held an eight-second lead.

Casanova covered the last 900 metres in 3:36, 13 seconds faster than Kropkó, and crossed the line as winner, 21 seconds clear of the Hungarian.

© World Triathlon

© World Triathlon

The battle for the last medal, bronze, began on the first lap and went on until the final loop, where Albert finally made the difference. She stretched the gap to 10 seconds at the line. A remarkable third place given the season the young athlete has just been through. In June, the 16-year-old Estonian suffered a serious bike crash and was no longer sure she would make the start. She has recovered well since, but raced in Saly with a torn aponeurosis in her left quad.

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For France, Ambre Ugolini finished 9th.

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