Five young triathletes are vying to represent Bermuda at the Youth Olympics in Senegal after World Triathlon allocated one male slot to the island.

Gianluca Bortoli, Dylan Eiselt, Sanchez Smith, Jasper Lau, Lucas Bule are in contention for the Games, which takes place from October 31 to November 13.

With the qualifying season closing at the end of March, the Bermuda Triathlon Association is expected to make a recommendation to the Bermuda Olympic Association on who they believe should represent the island.

Karen Smith, the new BTA president, expressed her delight after receiving the communication from Word Triathlon.

“This is massive for Bermuda,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“There are only 32 spots available and the host country gets one of those spots anyway, so for Bermuda to get a spot is really tremendous and we’re very excited about that.

“To be able to race at the Youth Olympics is pretty phenomenal. We had five boys and one girl who put themselves forward and were committed to this cause, which speaks volumes about our junior programme.”

At the beginning of the year, the contenders participated in races abroad to try and cement their qualification. Bortoli, Smith, Lau and Madison Schindel, who was chasing the female representation, competed at the World Triathlon Development Regional Cup Bridgetown, in Barbados.

In March, Eiselt and Lau went to Puerto Rico for the World Triathlon Development Regional Cup Salinas.

“World Triathlon had a list of events that would make your athletes eligible,” the BTA president said.

“One of them was Carifta last year in Tobago. Then there were two other races, one was in Barbados in February and the other one was in Puerto Rico in March.

“We had five males that made themselves eligible and one female. We have the list of eligible athletes and at this point we’re going to make a recommendation to the BOA. Ultimately, it’s their responsibility but they do want our input.

“The BOA has confirmed that we will send one of our athletes, we just haven’t confirmed who that’s going to be.”

On Wednesday, World Triathlon announced the full list of countries that have been designated spots, with Bermuda one of the six in the Americas to get a male spot. Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela are the others in the region to send a male triathlete.

Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and the United States were allocated female spots in the Americas region.

“World Triathlon is pleased to confirm that quota places for the Triathlon events at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games have now been officially allocated by the International Olympic Committee,” World Triathlon said.

“Following a thorough and objective selection process, allocations were based on NOC prioritisation, athlete performances across eligibility events and a commitment to equitable continental representation — with increased opportunities for Africa.

“We look forward to seeing the world’s best young triathletes compete in Dakar.”

Smith, who took over the presidency from Steven Petty on March 12, lamented that Schindel, despite her hard work, will not be able to represent the island.

“It’s difficult when you know that the individual has worked just as hard as everybody else,” the BTA president said.

“But these games are a bit unusual because of the fact that they are smaller than they typically are.

“They had to limit the number of athletes and then the way they decided how they were going to allocate athletes was one male or female for triathlon, so we couldn’t have one male and one female.

“Our female athlete did everything she was asked to do, but if there’s no position for her then we can’t send her.

“The good thing is that it isn’t the end of the end of the journey. There’s always more races ahead and there’s more events ahead.

“We have the Commonwealth Youth Games next year and hopefully they’ll be able to go to such events and excel.”