No U.S. Swimmers Will Race At Youth Olympic Games This October

Braden Keith contributed to this report

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has announced the athletes chosen for the Youth Olympic Games in Senegal this October, and no swimmers have been chosen to attend.

Earlier this yr, USA Swimming introduced they’d not be sending a delegation to the occasion as a result of useful resource allocation of the Junior National Team. This didn’t imply that the USOPC was restricted from sending swimmers in any respect, as in 2022 USA Swimming opted out of the World University Games and the US-IUSF selected a roster for the meet and despatched swimmers with out USA Swimming oversight.

That didn’t occur this yr, and the United States is not going to compete in swimming on the meet. Instead the 29-person delegation will signify 12 sports activities: archery, badminton, breaking, equestrian, rugby sevens, rowing, taekwondon, triathlon, skateboarding, volleyball, seaside wresting, and wushu (martial arts).

The swimming portion of the competitors will happen from November 1-Sixth on the Egg Tower Complex in Dakar, Senegal. This conflicts with the USA Swimming Short Course World Trials from October 28-31 in Illinois, which meant swimmers wouldn’t have been in a position to race at each.

The final Youth Olympic Games occurred in 2018, and the United States despatched a small 8-person roster that included Kate Douglass. At the time, Douglass didn’t qualify for the junior Pan Pacs, and was chosen as a part of the ‘next tier’ of athletes. She ended up ending Sixth within the 50 free together with her 25.83.

While the U.S. didn’t ship an enormous roster, the 2018 Games have been attended by a number of swimmers who are actually huge names within the sport.

Australian world file holder Kaylee McKeown swam all three backstroke races, successful gold within the 50 again, silver within the 100 again, and bronze within the 200 again.

On the boys’s aspect, Italy’s Thomas Ceccon received the 50 free, and Hungary’s Kristof Milak received the 200 free, 400 free, and 200 butterfly occasions.

Changes to the 2026 Games

Swimming Australia additionally introduced they’d not be sending a workforce to the meet.

The IOC and its new President Kirsty Coventry took the pause as a chance to reset the Youth Olympic Games.

“Adopting a tailored approach to the sports programme for the Youth Olympic Games allows us to ensure that each edition is uniquely aligned with the host context and needs,” stated Coventry in 2024, when she was an IOC Member and Chair of the Coordination Commission for the YOG Dakar 2026.

“This flexibility not only enhances the relevance and appeal of the YOG but also fosters innovation and engagement. We are excited to see how this new model will enrich the experience for all participants and spectators at Dakar 2026 and beyond.”

That included limiting every “sport” to at least one self-discipline (swimming is a ‘discipline’ of aquatics). The athlete quota reduces the sector from about 4,000 athletes to an anticipated quota of two,700, equally balanced between girls and boys.

The program has additionally been decreased from 239 occasions in 32 sports activities to 153 in 25 sports activities. While the precise event-by-event schedule has not been launched for swimming but, that makes it unlikely that swimming will carry the total program that it had in earlier editions.

That schedule consists of 73 occasions for boys, 73 occasions for women, and 7 blended occasions.

The age vary has additionally been shifted downward. In earlier editions, the age vary was 15-18, however in 2026, that vary is lowered to 14-17.

The 25 competitors sports activities are athletics (observe and subject), aquatics (swimming), archery, badminton, baseball (baseball5), basketball (3×3), boxing, breaking, biking (street biking), equestrian (leaping), fencing, soccer (futsal), gymnastics (creative gymnastics), handball (seaside handball), judo, rowing (coastal rowing), rugby (rugby sevens), crusing, skateboarding (avenue), desk tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball (seaside volleyball), wrestling (seaside wrestling) and wushu.

The 10 engagement sports activities, which means sports activities showcased by means of each on the bottom and digital actions  for Dakar 2026 are canoe-kayak, golf, hockey, karate, fashionable pentathlon, taking pictures, sport climbing, browsing, tennis and weightlifting.

The IOC has additionally eliminated many street and seaside occasions to ‘reduce complexity and city impact’ brought on by needing to close down public areas for competitors.