Team GB have been in action in the archery, badminton and rowing coastal beach sprints at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games as we reach the halfway point in Senegal.
While there are plenty of medals and sports left to go at the Games, which run from 30 October to 13 November, three athletes have already flown the flag for Team GB.
Most intriguingly, the rowing coastal beach sprints have made their debut at the Youth Olympics ahead of a full Olympic debut at LA 2028.
The new event embraces a head-to-head style of racing and involves a sprint down the beach into a 250m row, before a 180-degree turn sees them row back to shore and sprint to the finish line.
Louie Walker and Lexi Gill were in action for Team GB, getting underway in the mixed double sculls time trials for the first British representation of the Games.
They finished 16th in time trials 1 in a time of 2:45.43, to earn progression to time trials 2 where they finished joint fourth in 2:31.46 to secure a spot in the knockouts.
Once there, they came up against Czechia’s Ondrej Zizka and Marie Zavadilova in the last 16 where they lost in the head-to-head by 6.48 seconds.
Gill also made it to the last 16 in the women’s solo event.
She progressed directly from time trials 1, qualifying in sixth with a time of 3:03.83, but was defeated in the head-to-head by Austria’s Alena Lux.
Walker just missed out on a spot in the knockouts in the men’s solo event, placing ninth in time trials 2, just 0.1 seconds behind France’s Raphael de Boussac, who progressed.
In badminton, it was Rajvi Parab flying the flag for Team GB in Group C.
Parab faced Ukraine’s Varvara Poperezhai and Uganda’s Ramiah Bukenya in her opening two matches and earned victory over both in straight games.
She beat Poperezhai 21-8 21-16 in 29 minutes, before also defeating Bukenya 21-2 21-6 in just 19 minutes.
It set up a decisive match with the USA’s Micah Cruz for a place in the quarter-finals, but Parab just missed out in an agonisingly tight game.
She lost 19-21 21-19 21-15, having pushed the fourth seed all the way over 52 minutes of action, meaning she did not progress to the knockouts with only the group winner going through.
Archie Christopher and Jasmine Harris also represented Team GB in the archery, across the men’s, women’s and mixed team events.
In the ranking round, Christopher placed 22nd in the men’s individual event and Harris placed 23rd in the women’s individual event, which saw both through to the last 16.
But they did not progress to the knockouts of the mixed team event as they finished 18th in the ranking round.
This saw Christopher face Turkey’s Muhammet Musab Gulay in the last 16 where he was defeated 6-0, while Harris also did not progress after losing 6-4 to Mexico’s Maya Casas Lara in her last-16 contest.
Sportsbeat 2026