Bermudian athletes were in the thick of the action across multiple venues as the 2026 Youth Olympic Games continued in Senegal, with Gianluca Bortoli taking to the coast in Saly and Noah Maranzana back on the starting blocks in the capital.
In the men's individual triathlon at Saly Beach West Water Park, Bortoli produced a determined performance across the testing swim, bike, and run course to cross the line in 22nd place overall with a time of 57 minutes 55 seconds.
The young Bermudian emerged from the choppy waters in 17th position after completing the 750m swim leg in 8:50. Transitioning smoothly onto the technical 20.0km bike course, Bortoli posted the 23rd fastest split at 30:18 before capping off his effort with a sharp 17:57 split over the closing 5.1km run—the 17th quickest run of the day.
Portugal’s newly crowned European youth champion Artur Gaspar captured the gold medal in commanding fashion, clocking 53:13 to finish four minutes and 42 seconds clear of Bortoli. Luxembourg’s Emile Vanolst secured silver, while Japan’s Daiki Nishizaki and Kazakhstan’s Ramazan Ainegov shared bronze after an inseparable photo finish.
Meanwhile, in the swimming arena, Maranzana returned to competitive action following his earlier outings in the freestyle sprint.
Contesting heat two of the men’s 50m breaststroke, Maranzana touched the wall in 33.89 seconds to take second place in his heat. The time placed him 26th overall in the preliminary round, concluding another solid showing for the Bermudian contingent on the global stage.
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