Thwack in 3: The Youth Olympic Games Bring Archery's Next Generation to Dakar

The Event at a Glance

Archery November 6–10, 2026 · Abdoulaye Wade Stadium, Diamniadio, Senegal · Recurve · Boys' individual, girls' individual and mixed team · 64 archers from 38 nations

The Youth Olympic Games are the Olympic Games for young athletes. The full Games run October 31 to November 13 across three host sites, Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, with about 2,700 athletes in 25 sports. According to World Archery, archery is shot at Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio, the same stadium that hosts the opening ceremony on October 31. Archery runs November 6–10.

Dakar was supposed to host in 2022. In July 2020 the International Olympic Committee moved the Games to 2026 so sports could recover from the pandemic delays to other major events, including Tokyo 2020. Six years later, it's finally here.

Why it's this week's pick: it's a world stage built for teenagers, it's the first Olympic event on African soil, and the U.S. is sending a recurve archer who just posted a pending U18 world record. That's worth getting up early for.

How 64 Archers Got Here

In May, World Archery confirmed the 64 quota places: 32 for boys and 32 for girls. Here's how it works:

• Places go to countries, not archers. They were handed out based on 2025 results and the World Archery Youth Championships in Winnipeg. Each country then picks who fills its spot.
• Every archer has to hit a minimum score on a 60-meter round: 615 for boys and 605 for girls.
• The door is open wider for Africa. World Archery set the minimums for African archers at 554 for boys and 545 for girls. African nations hold 15 of the 64 places, and host Senegal has both a boy and a girl on the line.
• Age: every archer was born between 2009 and 2011. Only recurve bows are used at the Youth Olympics.

That's how a sport grows: you open the door where it's newest, and you let the next generation walk through it.

Meet Team USA

Aarya Arun, Baltimore, Maryland · Ye-eun Whang, San Diego, California · Recurve

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee named its Dakar team on September 2: 29 athletes in 12 sports. Archery has two of them, one boy and one girl, and both earned it at the same tournament this summer.

• Aarya Arun shot 1372 in the double 60-meter round (2×72 arrows) in U18 men's recurve at the JOAD Target Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska. USA Archery reports it as a new world record, pending verification. It beat the old mark of 1350, set by American Joonsuh Oh in 2019, by 22 points. He won the national title too, and the performance confirmed his spot in Dakar.
• Ye-eun Whang won U18 women's recurve gold at the same JOAD Target Nationals, by 17 points.

What to watch for: whether Arun's scoring travels. A record at home is one thing. Holding it together on an Olympic field, in a new country, in front of a crowd, is the real test. Whang has the same chance to show what a 17-point national title looks like on the world stage.

One American Has Done This Before

Archery has been part of every Summer Youth Olympics: Singapore 2010, Nanjing 2014, Buenos Aires 2018 and now Dakar. The U.S. has exactly one Youth Olympic archery gold, and it's a good one.

• Trenton Cowles won boys' individual gold at Buenos Aires 2018. He also took mixed team bronze, shooting with Quinn Reddig of Namibia. That year, the mixed team event paired archers from different countries.
• The first Youth Olympic archery gold ever, in Singapore in 2010, went to Ibrahim Sabry of Egypt. Sixteen years later, the Games come to Africa.

Youth Olympic Archery Champions at a Glance

Gold medalists by edition. Source: Archery at the Summer Youth Olympics.

How to Be Part of It From Home

Most of us won't be in Senegal, and that's fine. Here's how to show up anyway:

• Set your alarm. Senegal stays on Greenwich Mean Time. Once U.S. clocks change on November 1, Dakar is five hours ahead of Eastern time, so a morning session in Diamniadio is very early in New York and the middle of the night on the West Coast.
• Follow the results. Olympics.com, World Archery and USA Archery will carry results and coverage.
• Cheer loud. These are teenagers on the biggest stage of their lives so far. Share their wins, say their names and send them some love.
• Talk about it. Bring your predictions to the Thwack Life community. We'll share the results when they're in.
• Going in person? World Archery says tickets start at 2,000 CFA francs (around €3) and are sold only through the official Dakar 2026 ticketing platform.

Get on the Line Yourself

Every archer in Dakar started with a first arrow at a local range, usually with a coach who said yes. If you've got a young archer at home, or you're one yourself, here's where to start:

• Read Youth Archery Programs by State: Where to Send Your Kid and What to Look For.
• Look for a JOAD club. JOAD is USA Archery's Junior Olympic Archery Development program, and its national championship is where both of our Dakar archers earned their spots.
• Use the National Archery Directory to find a range or club near you.
• Read USA Archery Rankings Explained if your archer is starting to shoot for score.
• Brand new? So You Want to Shoot a Bow? Here's How to Actually Start is for you, at any age.

How Thwack in 3 Works

• Every Monday morning, a new feature goes live here on the blog, at the top of the calendar page, in the Thwack Life community and in our newsletter.
• Each one covers one event happening three weeks out, so you have time to plan, register and go, or at least know when to tune in.
• The picks rotate: big international events, national championships, grassroots club shoots, youth events and adaptive events. If it's archery and it's worth showing up for, it's eligible.
• Know an event that deserves the spotlight? Submit it to the calendar and tell us why in the community. Your club's fundraiser shoot has as much right to this space as the Youth Olympics.

The Bottom Line

Sixty-four teenagers, 38 nations, one line, and the first Olympic event ever held in Africa. Two Americans are carrying the flag, and one of them just shot a pending world record. Set an early alarm for November 6–10, cheer for every archer on that line, and if there's a young archer in your life, get them to a range. This is where it starts.

See you next Monday. Now go shoot something. (A target. Obviously.)