Canada U18 Men Entered in Youth Olympics in Senegal in November: Pools Announced
The Youth Olympics first started in 2010, it’s focused on U18 athletes. Rugby 7s was introduced in 2014 in China and continued on in Argentina in 2018. The 2022 Youth Olympics were scrubbed due to COVID disruptions and now Senegal are hosting in 2026. Canada have won medals in 2014 and 2018, both by the women’s U18 team, Silver in China and Bronze in Argentina. This is the first time the Canadian U18 men have been entered in the Youth Olympics Rugby 7s. The Canadian women are not entered, the USA women are the only entry from the Americas region.
The format is likely an A1 vs B4 type quarter-final matchup, so if Canada manage A2 behind South Africa they would likely face B3 Japan in the quarter-finals.
Note: Even though we use the U18 age band generally, this is listed as a U17 team by Rugby Canada. Specifically the Olympic site states, “Athletes competing in Dakar will be 17 years old or younger at the time of the Games, with eligibility strictly for boys and girls born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011.”
Men’s competition:
Pool A
Canada, Germany, Senegal, South Africa
Pool B
Argentina, France, Japan, Samoa
Women’s competition:
Pool A
Australia, China, Kenya, Senegal
Pool B
Czechia, Madagascar, Spain, USA.
from World Rugby
The pools have been confirmed for the men’s and women’s rugby sevens competitions at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, with 16 teams set to compete for medals in Senegal.
Rugby sevens will return to the Youth Olympic Games for the third time when some of the world’s most promising young players take to the field at Dakar 2026.
The Opening Ceremony is on 31 October and the rugby tournament kicks off at the 8,000-seat Complexe Iba Mar Diop the following day, with medals awarded on 2 and 3 November. Dakar 2026 is set to make history as the first Olympic sporting event to be staged on the African continent. Around 2700 young athletes are expected to compete across 25 competition sports.
Eight men’s and eight women’s rugby sevens teams have qualified for Dakar 2026, with the competitions featuring two pools of four teams.
Women’s competition:
Australia, China, Kenya and hosts Senegal will compete in Pool A, while Pool B features Czechia, Madagascar, Spain and USA.
Men’s competition:
Canada, Germany, Senegal and South Africa are together in Pool A whilst Argentina, France, Japan and Samoa make up Pool B.
Rugby sevens made its Youth Olympic Games debut at Nanjing 2014 before returning at Buenos Aires 2018. In Buenos Aires, hosts Argentina claimed the men’s gold medal with victory over France in the final, while New Zealand took the women’s title, also defeating France in the gold medal match. Japan and Canada won bronze in the men’s and women’s competitions respectively.
It will be all to play for in Senegal as teams take to the field in their bid to make their mark on the Olympic Stage.
More information on Dakar 2026 can be found at Olympics.com/en/dakar-2026.