Dakar 2026 gets under way on Saturday 31 October as the first Olympic event ever staged on African soil, marking the fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
Swimming runs from 1 to 6 November at the Dakar Aquatic Centre, and the field will be full of emerging talent from across the world, many of them swimming at a major international multi-sport event for the first time.
Since Singapore 2010, the YOG has helped to launch the careers of some legendary swimmers. As Dakar’s young stars prepare to make their own mark, World Aquatics looks at eight athletes who started on this stage.
Emma McKeon (AUS), Singapore 2010
YOG: 1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze
McKeon announced herself in Singapore by taking six medals across individual and relay events, showing the consistency that would define her career. She became one of the most successful swimmers in Olympic history, winning four golds including the 50m and 100m Freestyle, and seven medals in total at Tokyo 2020 – the most ever won by a female swimmer at a single Games. Across three Olympics she accumulated 14 medals, six of them gold, making her Australia’s most successful Olympian and the eighth most decorated across all sports. She returns to the Youth Olympic Games this year as one of two Athlete Role Models appointed by the IOC for Dakar.
Chad le Clos (RSA), Singapore 2010
YOG: 1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze
Le Clos won the 200m Individual Medley in Singapore, took silver in the 100m and 200m Butterfly and the 400m Freestyle, and added Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay bronze. Two years later, aged 19, he produced one of most famous Olympic victories, out-touching Michael Phelps to win the 200m Butterfly at London 2012. He has four Olympic medals and is a four-time long course and 12-time short course world champion. Le Clos also holds the record for most medals won at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup with an astonishing 227.
Rūta Meilutytė (LTU), Nanjing 2014
YOG: gold in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke
Meilutytė had the rare feat of arriving at the YOG already as a star. Two years earlier, aged just 15, she had stunned the swimming world by winning Olympic gold in the 100m Breaststroke at London 2012. In China she added two YOG golds, in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke. She is a six-time long course world champion and has won the last four titles in the 50m Breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships, setting a World Record of 29.16 at Fukuoka 2023 that still stands. Meilutytė also holds short course World Records in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke.
Kyle Chalmers (AUS), Nanjing 2014
YOG: bronze in three relays
Chalmers’ medals in Nanjing came in the Men’s 4x100m Medley, the Mixed 4x100m Medley and 4x100m Freestyle Relays, but his individual breakthrough was still two years away. At Rio 2016, aged 18, he won the 100m Freestyle, and has since remained among the world’s best over 100m, winning silvers in the event at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In total, he has nine Olympic medals to his name, along with six golds at the World Aquatics Championships and three at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m). Chalmers has held the short course 100m Freestyle World Record at 44.84 since 2021.
Siobhán Haughey (HKG), Nanjing 2014
YOG: silver in the 100m Freestyle, plus other medals
Haughey’s silver in the 100m Freestyle at Nanjing 2014 was the first step in a steady climb to the top of the sport. At Tokyo 2020, she won silver in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle, becoming the first swimmer from Hong Kong to win an Olympic medal. She added bronze in both events at Paris 2024, and has continued to enjoy success. She won the long course and short course 200m Freestyle world titles in 2024, and recently won four medals at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games before taking her career gold medal haul at the Swimming World Cup up to 21 on the Silk Road Tour.
Zhang Yufei (CHN), Nanjing 2014
YOG: 4 gold, 2 silver
Zhang was part of the four winning relay teams for the host in Nanjing – the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle and Medley, and the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle and Medley. She also won individual silvers in the 100m and 200 Butterfly. She has since gone on to win 10 Olympic medals, including 200m Butterfly gold at Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, Zhang picked up six medals, including bronzes in the 50m Freestyle and 100m and 200m Butterfly. Her career has also seen her win the 100m Butterfly world title in 2023 among 13 World Aquatics Championships medals.
Kristóf Milák (HUN), Buenos Aires 2018
YOG: 3 gold, 1 silver
Milák was one of the stars who emerged at the last edition of the YOG in Buenos Aires, winning golds in the 200m Butterfly and 200m and 400m Freestyle, as well as silver in the 100m Butterfly. He has gone on to win Olympic golds in the 200m Butterfly at Tokyo 2020 and 100m Butterfly at Paris 2024, winning silver in the other distance on both occasions. In 2019, aged 19, he broke Phelps’ long-standing 200m Butterfly world record to win the world title, and enjoyed a memorable home World Aquatics Championships in Budapest in 2022, where he won 100m and 200m Butterfly gold. His World Record of 1:50.34 in the 200m Butterfly set at Budapest 2022 still stands.
Thomas Ceccon (ITA), Buenos Aires 2018
YOG: 1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze
Ceccon won five medals in Buenos Aires – gold in the 50m Freestyle, silver in the 50m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley, and bronze in the 100m Backstroke and Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay. He has developed into one of the world’s most complete backstrokers. Like Milák, he set a World Record at Budapest 2022 of 51.60 in the 100m Backstroke that still stands. At Paris 2024 he won Olympic gold in that event, and added a relay bronze in the 4x100m Freestyle.
World Aquatics will provide coverage throughout Dakar 2026 on worldaquatics.com and across our social media channels.