Sport Climbing will once again feature at the Youth Olympic Games as part of an evolved approach to the sports programme at the premier youth event beginning at Dakar 2026.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today that future editions will ‘better fit into the local context’ with a new process establishing a tailored sports competition programme designed for each edition of the YOG.

The decision to amend the sports programme of Dakar 2026 was taken by the IOC Executive Board (EB) who were meeting for three days at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland and means Climbing will once again be part of the programme.

Based on the newly defined principles from the IOC EB, it was decided to maintain the 35 sports – including Sport Climbing, with 25 sports featuring on the competition programme and 10 to be part of the engagement programme.