Good food, good people, good to go.
That was the message from Taupo teen Matthew More on the eve of the men’s triathlon at the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games in Senegal overnight. Oh, and that it’s been hot in Dakar, like hard to sleep at night unbearable.
More will be out to extend New Zealand’s proud history in Youth Olympic Games triathlon at Saly beach in the sprint distance event at 8:15am local time Thursday – 9:15pm NZ time.
New Zealand has won two of the previous three Youth Summer Games gold medals, Southlander Aaron Barclay triumphing at the inaugural Games at Singapore 2010 before Auckland’s Dylan McCullough won at Buenos Aires 2018. McCullough, of course, went on represent New Zealand at the 2024 Paris Olympics and is trending for a repeat appearance at Los Angeles in 2028.
More participated in the swim, bike and run course familiarisations at Saly beach overnight. The race venue is roughly an hour away from the Games village, the latter offering exactly the experience the Tri-Sport Taupo 16-year-old was hoping for. Bar one thing.
“It’s way, way hotter than imagined,” More said. “Not the most pleasant at times, but all good. It’s nice, though. There’s breeze now and, yeah, good food, good people.”
More has enjoyed being assimilated into the famed ‘NZL Team’ whānau at the athletes village and “yeah, just meeting lots of new people.”
Among them has been Vincent Luis, the freshly minted Ironman world champion from Kona, three-time Olympian and Mixed Relay bronze medallist for France at the 2020/1 Tokyo Olympics. Luis is in Senegal as an Ambassador for World Triathlon and stopped for a pic with More during last night’s famils.
With four athletes to a room in the village and just fans in the ceiling to help fight the 33° in room temperature, sleep has been an elusive commodity.
Other than that, More’s near week-long buildup in Dakar has been good. He’s done a couple of heat sessions and swam a good set in a pool sessions with the other triathletes on Tuesday.
Thirty-two athletes aged 16 and 17 from 32 nations line up on Saly Beach in the first Olympic triathlon ever held on African soil. Stay tuned to SBR-Tri.com for overage from the biggest moment of More’s burgeoning career.
World Triathlon’s “Athletes to watch”
No man in the field has a junior world podium, which leaves the race open between continental champions.
Artur Gaspar (POR)
At 16, Gaspar is the newly crowned European youth champion. In Melilla last month he was fourth into T2, took the lead with a quick transition and ran the fastest split to win by two seconds, having only just made the final as sixth in his semi. It was his first international win in six starts. Portugal’s last Youth Olympic triathlon medal was Alexandre Montez’s silver in 2018.
Emile Vanolst (LUX)
Vanolst pushed Gaspar all the way in Melilla, finishing two seconds behind him. He was 30th at the Junior Worlds in Pontevedra, the second-best Dakar starter there, and fourth at the Zagreb Junior Cup in September. The Trispeed club athlete is part of Team Luxembourg at his first Youth Olympic Games.
Youssef Slama (TUN)
Nobody in the field knows Saly like Slama. Last November he won the elite race at the Saly Development Regional Cup by two and a half minutes, and in October he was crowned Africa youth champion in Hurghada, 17 seconds clear of the UAE’s Maximilian Hoehn. He has won four of his ten career starts, including the Blue Bay Junior Cup in Mauritius in June, and took silver in Yasmine Hammamet in a photo finish behind compatriot Mohamed Amine Khemais.
Ramazan Ainegov (KAZ)
The Kazakh is the most prolific winner in the field, with six wins from 16 starts. He won the Asia Super Sprint youth title in Xuzhou in June by a single second, and took silver at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain, seven seconds behind China’s Li Yansong. Bronze at the Asia Junior Championships in Hong Kong and wins at the Subic Bay and Turkestan Junior Cups confirm his consistency, although he did not finish at the Junior Worlds.
Daiki Nishizaki (JPN)
Nishizaki was 28th at the Junior Worlds in Pontevedra, the highest finish of any Dakar starter. He is the 2025 Asia junior champion, winning in Aqaba from a four-man breakaway he built on the bike. In Hong Kong in March he took silver behind teammate Konosuke Uchida, five seconds ahead of Ainegov, a rivalry that could resurface in Saly.
Ziad Bouchikha (MAR)
Bouchikha won the Africa Junior Cup in El Galala in September 2025 and holds continental age-group titles at U13 and 14-15 level. In Hurghada last month he took youth bronze behind Slama and bronze in the junior aquathlon. He also raced the Saly elite race last year, finishing fourth.
Raimundo Vicente San Martín Naranjo (CHI)
The South American Junior Games champion led from start to finish in Panama in April, winning in 57:32, and added mixed relay gold. He was South American youth champion in 2024 and finished 50th at the Junior Worlds.
Ousmane Thiaw (SEN)
The home athlete took bronze in the youth race at the Saly Development Regional Cup last November, his only international start. Senegal is the only nation with an athlete in both races, and Thiaw opens the host nation’s triathlon campaign in front of a home crowd.
Also in the mix
• Alessandro Diego Cortez Delgado (MEX): silver in the youth race at the Iberoamerican Championships in Maldonado and Mexico’s only triathlete in Dakar.
• Aaron Jesús Hernández Morales (VEN): fourth in Panama, 20 seconds behind San Martín, and third at the Asunción Development Regional Cup.
• Elias Medina Paolucci (URU): youth bronze at the South American Championships in Formosa after a close sprint finish, and third at the Lima Junior Cup.
• Gianluca Bortoli (BER): silver at the CARIFTA Championships in October and Bermuda’s national sprint champion; also a 15:59 5000m runner.
• Robert Robin (KEN): Kenya’s first Youth Olympic triathlete, fourth in the Saly youth race last year; coached by Abdallah Mansoor Abdallah and targeting a top-ten finish.
• Feher Moussa (KSA): silver at the New Taipei Junior Cup in October, a product of Saudi Triathlon’s Elite Pathway programme.
• Matthew More (NZL): carries New Zealand’s proud YOG record, with two of three titles; he is looking forward to meeting athletes from around the world who share his passion.
