2026 SUMMER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES
The 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games saw day two unfold from Dakar, Senegal, amid rising pool temperatures, which already resulted in the cancellation of 800m distance races and now timed finals of the 400m distances.
The young swimmers persevered through the girls’ and boys’ 100m freestyle and 200m breaststroke events, with several nations earning their first medals of these Games.
Ana Bobanovic gave Croatia its first gold, courtesy of her time of 55.89 notched in the 100m freestyle.
Splitting 27.27/28.62, Bobanovic earned the only time of the field under the 56-second barrier, knocking .10 off her former personal best of 55.99 from this past summer in the process.
New Zealand’s Alyssa Lawson was next to the wall in 56.13 for silver, as India’s Dhinidhi Desinghu rounded out the podium in 56.27, a new national record for the 16-year-old.
Bobanovic placed 15th in this event at the 2026 European Junior Championships, hitting 56.17 in the semi-finals.
Speaking after this evening’s race, Bobanovic stated, “I’m really happy and hoping for the same in the 50 freestyle and maybe in the 200m freestyle. I was expecting this race to be really fast today and I am very happy to win the gold.”
When she saw her name next to 1st place, she said, “I was like, ‘Wow, I have a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games’. I didn’t expect to win gold, as I didn’t know who would come here and who would compete with me. It’s amazing.
“I train every day and this means a lot, for me, for my family and for everyone who is supporting me.”
Bogdan Toropkin of Russia grabbed the gold in the boys’ edition of the 100m free, scoring the sole sub-50-second outing of the pack.
Toropkin registered a winning effort of 49.66 to get the job done, a result just over half a second outside his career-swiftest performance of 49.11 from this year’s Russian Championships.
China got on the board with silver at the hands of Xie Yichen, with the 16-year-old turning in a time of 50.18. That held off Chinese Taipei’s Lee Han, who bagged the bronze tonight in 50.26.
Japan swept the 200m breaststroke events, with Mana Ishikawa winning the girls’ and Iori Miyazaki taking the boys’ races to carry on the nation’s rich tradition in this discipline.
Ishikawa stopped the clock at 2:26.50 to hold a comfortable advantage over Chang Mohan of China and Chanel Veldsman of South Africa, who cleaned up the minor medals. The former hit 2:27.21 while the latter posted 2:30.87 for silver and bronze, respectively.
As for Miyazaki, the 17-year-old delivered a result of 2:12.33 to beat his peers by over a second.
Lithuanian Domas Vilimas was next to the wall in 2:13.50, as Uzbekistan’s Muhammadismail Rahmonov secured 3rd place in 2:15.79.
Ishikawa said of her gold medal-worthy performance, “I’m extremely happy. I didn’t improve on my personal best, but to be able to win on a stage like the Youth Olympic Games has been a really great experience for me.”
On Japan’s strength in the breaststroke, “There are senior swimmers in Japan who are crazy fast compared to me. In order to catch up with them, I want to continue to work hard.”
For his part, Miyazaki said of his victory, “I’m delighted to have won an Olympic gold medal. Although my time was slightly different from what I’d hoped for, I’m absolutely thrilled that I was able to secure victory for the Japanese national team.”
On keeping up Japan’s strong tradition in breaststroke, “It wasn’t that I felt that much pressure. I certainly felt the desire to keep the streak of victories going, but I want to do my best so that I can keep up with the world’s top swimmers.
“We have very high-level breaststroke swimmers, so we’re able to spur each other on day in, day out across various competitions. That helps to keep us strong in this event.”
All quotes courttesy of Olympics.com.
YOG Medal Table Through Day Two
