Meet Team Canada for the Dakar 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games

A team of 28 athletes is ready to represent Canada at the first Olympic competition to take place in Africa. 

The 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) will officially open in Dakar, Senegal on October 31 and run through to the closing ceremony on November 13. 

They will be the first Summer YOG since 2018. Dakar was supposed to host the Summer YOG in 2022, but the Games were postponed by four years after the COVID-19 pandemic created upheaval with international sports calendars. 

Team Canada athletes will compete in 10 of the 25 sports on the program. Here’s a look at who they are and all the information you need to watch and cheer them on. 

Team Canada Athletes at Dakar 2026 

Team Canada athletes will compete in archery, artistic gymnastics, badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, fencing, judo, rugby sevens, skateboarding, and wushu at Dakar 2026. 

Archery 

• Yashveer Bains (Brampton, Ont.)
• Alison Langley (Ottawa, Ont.)

Bains and Langley will compete in the men’s and women’s individual recurve events, respectively, as well as the mixed team event. 

Artistic Gymnastics 

• Jaydon De Silva (Calgary, Alta.)
• Taya Macey (Whitby, Ont.)
• Maryam Saber (Longueuil, Que.)
• Nikita Théodat (Montreal, Que.)

Canada has qualified a full women’s team of three athletes. Macey won all-around bronze at the 2026 Junior Pan American Championships where Théodat took gold on floor exercise. Saber was a member of the Canadian team at the 2025 Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships, but missed this year’s nationals (where Théodat and Macey went 1-2 in the junior all-around) and Junior Pan Am Championships while recovering from a fractured wrist.  

De Silva will compete individually. He won all-around silver at the 2026 Junior Pan American Championships, his first big international meet. 

Badminton

• Shaurya Gullaiya (Brampton, Ont.)
• Emily Luo (Toronto, Ont.)

Gullaiya and Luo will compete in the men’s and women’s singles events, respectively. Luo won gold in the U17 division at the 2026 Pan American Championships. Just 16 years old, Gullaiya has amassed 31,000 Instagram followers on his badminton journey. 

Beach Volleyball

• Natalia Casas (Halifax, N.S.)
• Julia McDougall (Halifax, N.S.)

Casas and McDougall went into the 2026 Canadian U18 World Trials ranked last, but came out as the victors, giving them their first opportunity to represent Canada internationally. They then won silver at the NORCECA U18 Qualifying Tournament to earn their spot at the 2026 U18 World Championships. 

Boxing

• Mehreen Khakh (Kitchener, Ont.)
• Lisandro Garcia Rebelo (Mississauga, Ont.)

Khakh will compete in the women’s 51kg event while Rebelo is entered in the men’s 55kg event. Born in November 2008, Khakh is the oldest member of Team Canada at Dakar 2026. 

Fencing

• Junzhe (Simon) Shan (West Vancouver, B.C.)

Shan will compete in the men’s individual épée. In 2026 he won silver at the FIE Cadet World Championships, following up the bronze he won in 2025. 

Judo 

• Anes Mati (Anjou, Que.)

This past August, Mati became Cadet World Champion in the men’s 66kg event, improving on his fifth-place finish in 2025. 

Rugby Sevens

• Travis Altmann (Seagrave, Ont.)
• Austin Andrews (Vancouver, B.C.)
• Mason Balzer (Abbotsford, B.C.)
• Adam Burnett (Toronto, Ont.)
• Nolan Grealy (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.)
• Samuel Knowlton (Ottawa, Ont.)
• Dekker Kozak-Goebel (Toronto, Ont.)
• Elliot MacDonald (Kingston, Ont.)
• William North (Toronto, Ont.)
• Luca Robb (Victoria, B.C.)
• Theodore Schaddelee (Victoria, B.C.)
• Jonas Van Gilst (Komoka, Ont.)

This will be the third straight YOG to include rugby sevens. Canada reached the podium in the two previous women’s events, but has never before competed in the men’s event. 

Skateboarding

• Evie Pritchard (Nanaimo, B.C.)

Skateboarding will be an official YOG sport for the first time in Dakar, debuting with street events. At just 14-years-old, Pritchard is currently the top-ranked Canadian woman in the World Skate street rankings at No. 21. She reached the semifinals in her first ever World Skateboarding Tour event last November. She will be the youngest member of Team Canada in Dakar.

Wushu

• Miranda Wei (Calgary, Alta.)

Wushu is being officially included in any Olympic competition for the first time ever. The Chinese martial art will feature the taolu form, which is based on choreographic sequences of codified movements (attacks, blocks, jumps, balances). Judges evaluate the quality of the movements, the overall performance, and the level of difficulty. 

Wei will compete in women’s taijiquan combined, which includes taijiquan (commonly known as tai chi) and taijishan (which incorporates a traditional folding fan in the movements). She won two gold and a bronze at the 5th World Taiji Championships in April 2026.

Where to Watch Dakar 2026

CBC/Radio-Canada will provide coverage of Dakar 2026 on cbcsports.ca and radio-canada.com/sports as well as the CBC Gem app. There will also be live streaming coverage on Olympics.com and the Olympics app. 

How to Follow Dakar 2026 

Here is an overview of the competition schedule. In addition to the Team Canada social media channels, check out the official Instagram of Dakar 2026.