Dakar Hosts Historic Youth Olympic Games
Dakar will host the fourth edition of the Youth Olympic Games, marking the first time an Olympic event will take place on the African continent. The multi-sport competition for athletes aged 13 to 18 returns after an extended hiatus following the 2018 Games in Buenos Aires, as the COVID-19 pandemic delayed subsequent editions.
Italy Targets Second Archery Medal
Archery has featured in the Youth Olympic program since its inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010. During those Games, Italy secured its first and only archery medal in the competition when Gloria Filippi teamed up with Belarus athlete Anton Karoukin to win the mixed team gold medal, defeating Greece’s Zoi Paraskevopoulou and Slovenia’s Gregor Rajh 7-3 in the final.
Italian Roster Set for 2026 Competition
Niccolò Mazzuoli and Matilde Manini have been selected to represent Italy in archery at the upcoming Dakar Games. The two young athletes join a select group of Italian archers who have previously competed in the Youth Olympics, following Gloria Filippi and Lorenzo Pianesi in 2010, Tanya Giada Giaccheri and Elia Fregnan in 2014, and Federico Fabrizzi in 2018.
Previous Champions Across Past Editions
The Youth Olympic archery tournament has crowned champions from around the globe since its 2010 debut. In Singapore, Egypt’s Sabry won the men’s individual gold, while South Korea’s Kwak took the women’s individual title. Nanjing hosted the 2014 Games, where South Korea’s Lee Woo Seok and China’s Li won the individual events, with Li also claiming mixed team gold alongside the Philippines’ Moreno. At the 2018 Games in Buenos Aires, titles went to the United States’ Cowles, China’s Zhang, and the mixed international pair from France and Spain.
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