Imagine being a teenager, stepping onto the blocks at one of the world’s biggest sporting events for young athletes, with the Ugandan flag on your cap and the chance to race against some of the best swimmers your age.
That exciting challenge awaits Mary Peyton Suubi and Zara Marie Mbanga as they prepare to represent Uganda at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
For the two swimmers, the journey to Senegal is about more than competing for medals. It is an opportunity to test how far they have come, learn from the best and take another step towards their dreams in swimming.
The Youth Olympic Games will run from October 31 to November 13, 2026, marking the first time an Olympic sports event will be hosted on African soil. And as the world’s young sporting talents gather in Senegal, Suubi and Mbanga will be among those carrying Uganda’s hopes in the pool.
At 16, Suubi brings international experience and versatility, while 14-year-old Mbanga heads to Dakar with clear ambitions to improve her personal bests and challenge national records. Though at different stages of their swimming journeys, both have earned their places through years of training and competition.
Suubi will compete in the girls’ 400m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly, while Mbanga will race in the 50m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.
Their selection reflects the progress of Uganda’s young swimmers, who continue to gain experience through regional and continental competitions as they work towards bigger international opportunities.
Suubi’s experience meets a new challenge
Suubi has spent about eight years in swimming, developing her skills at Jaguar Swim Club before moving to the United States in January 2026. She now trains with Crimson Aquatics in Woburn, Massachusetts, while studying at Woburn Memorial High School.
Despite the move, she has continued to represent Uganda internationally, building on experience gained at the Africa Aquatics Zone III and Zone IV Championships and the 2025 Africa Aquatics Junior Championships in Egypt.
One of her standout moments came in October 2025, when she captained Uganda to a third consecutive title at the Africa Aquatics Zone III Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
She also set national records in the women’s 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley in 2025, underlining her ability to compete across different strokes and distances.
In Dakar, she will need to switch between a demanding middle-distance freestyle race and two shorter events requiring different combinations of speed, technique and race execution.
Her campaign begins with the girls’ 400m freestyle on November 1, followed by the 100m breaststroke on November 3 and the 50m butterfly on November 4.
For Suubi, however, the opportunity goes beyond the results.
“I’m really grateful and excited to have the opportunity to represent Uganda at the Youth Olympic Games,” she said. “It means a lot to me because I’ve worked toward this for many years, and I’m proud to represent my country on such a big stage.”
She is also looking forward to learning from the experience and competing against some of the best young swimmers in the world, with the ultimate ambition of one day representing Uganda at the Olympic Games.
Mbanga targets personal bests and national records
For Mbanga, Dakar presents another important step in a swimming journey that has already taken her beyond regional competition.
The 14-year-old, a student at Shree Sahajanand and a member of Jaguar Swim Club, has represented Uganda at several Africa Aquatics Zone III and Zone IV Championships. She also competed at the ISF Under-15 Games in Serbia, where she faced some of the world’s promising young athletes.
Dakar will be her second major international competition and, by her own assessment, an even bigger challenge.
“I’m very excited for the competition,” Mbanga said. “This is the first time that the Youth Olympics is going to be in Africa, and I’m very excited that it’s going to be on the continent where I’m from.”
Her programme features the 50m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley, giving her opportunities to demonstrate both her specialist stroke and her ability to compete across different swimming disciplines.
Mbanga arrives with personal bests of 36.70 seconds in the 50m breaststroke, 2:58.56 in the 200m breaststroke and 2:39.41 in the 200m individual medley.
Her targets are clear: improve those times, pursue national records and make the people supporting her proud.
“I believe that I’m very good at all of these races, and I have been working hard,” she said. “I hope to make personal bests, hopefully new national records, and make my country, my team, my parents, my coaches and all my friends proud.”
It is an ambition that captures the spirit of youth sport, where every race offers an opportunity to learn, improve and measure progress against a stronger field.
A historic stage for Uganda’s young swimmers
The significance of Dakar 2026 extends beyond the swimming pool. With the Games becoming the first Olympic sports event hosted on the African continent, the occasion offers young African athletes an opportunity to compete on home-continent soil at a major international multi-sport event.
The Games will run until November 13 across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, bringing together approximately 2,700 athletes under the age of 17 from 207 delegations. Under the motto “Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates”, the event will feature 25 competition sports, including swimming.
Uganda is sending a delegation of 25 athletes seven women and 18 men to compete in seven sports: athletics, badminton, road cycling, coastal rowing and beach sprints, rugby sevens, swimming and table tennis. Lydia Gloria Ssanyu Dhamuzungu will serve as Chef de Mission.
Uganda will also have representation in the swimming technical officials’ team through Brian Kasirye and Max Kanyerezi.