Kenya officially launched its campaign for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games on Thursday, sending 53 athletes across 13 sporting disciplines to the first edition of the competition held on African soil. The team will be the second-largest delegation after hosts Senegal, who have named 139 athletes.
Chef de Mission Angela Luchivya said preparations had entered the final phase. Athletes will gather for a residential training camp in Mombasa on Monday before travelling to Senegal for the Games, which run from 31 October to 13 November and feature around 2,700 athletes aged 17 and under from 206 National Olympic Committees.
Several squads have completed international training stints, including the 3x3 basketball team, which trained in Senegal from 6 to 9 October. Rugby sevens is in Tunisia, baseball5 recently returned from Botswana, and beach wrestling is set to train in Mauritius.
Kenya will compete in athletics, rugby sevens, baseball5, basketball 3x3, swimming, road cycling, boxing, fencing, judo, wushu, beach handball, beach wrestling and triathlon. Women make up 42 of the 53 athletes. Officials have also arranged medical support, mental health assistance, familiar foods through the Kenyan Embassy in Senegal, and special examinations for athletes who miss school tests.
