Maritanya Krog of cycling and Pi Durden Wangkay and Naomi Marjorie Cesar of athletics are three of nine Filipino athletes who will be competing in the Fourth Youth Olympics Games (YOG) in Senegal this October, according to Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
“They have been nominated by their respective national sports associations and we’re awaiting six more nominations,” said Tolentino on the sides Thursday of the inaugural Philippine National Speed Cubing Open 2026 that the POC is staging at the Tagaytay City Combat Sports Center in partnership with the Asian Mind Sports Association.
The International Olympic Committee, which organizes the quadrennial YOG that will be staged 31 October to 13 November in Dakar, has allocated nine Universality Places for the Philippines.
These are two athletes in athletics, one female cyclist for road and individual time trial, one male and female in artistic gymnastics, one male in windsurfing, one in women’s taijiquan combined in wushu and one in men’s 100 meters butterfly and one in women’s 100 meters breaststroke in swimming.
The YOG are for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old.
Krog was nominated based on her sixth-place finish at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain last year on top of consistently winning gold medals at the Batang Pinoy and National Cycling Championships and for finishing just outside the podium in women’s elimination race in the Asian Cycling Confederation Track Championships at the Tagaytay CT Velodrome last March.
“She has the potential although we need to raise the level of her training program for Senegal,” said Tolentino, also the president of the PhilCycling.
