Maël Lamouret consistently brilliant as he wins recurve men gold at Dakar 2026

Maël Lamouret put on a strong showing throughout the day to win the recurve under-18 men’s gold medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

Consistency is king in archery, and the 17-year-old athlete had bags of it in Senegal throughout the elimination rounds, never dropping a set score lower than 28 in any of his five matches.

He defeated Chen Pin-An 6-4 in the final at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium - and certainly had more vocal support there than his Chinese Taipei counterpart - who had just come off another tight, high-quality encounter in the semifinals against Korea’s Lee Jiho [6-4].

In the final end, needing just one set point to win, there was a brief moment of angst for the Normandy archer when he dropped his first eight of the match with his opening arrow, but followed it up with an X and a 10 to leave no doubt.

Only Pin-An will know whether the back-and-forth nature of that contest drained just a tad too much from him before coming up against Lamouret, as he failed to nail down a single perfect score in the gold medal match, while Lamouret managed two and nine 10s.

The Frenchman won’t care, however, as he becomes the first French Youth Olympic champion. Recurve women archer Kyla Touraine-helias won the country’s maiden gold in the event in the mixed team competition at Buenos Aires 2018.

“It’s good for the nation,” he replied when asked how he felt about the feat. “I didn’t realise it at the time, but yes, it’s really good.”

“I took my decisions before I shot my arrows, but during the action to shoot, I let my body doing his job. On my last end, my eight on top, I released my arrows a little higher but on the last one, I saw her going into the 10 ring. 

“I look at my coach and say to myself ‘okay it's good!’”

Whilst the level in Dakar in both the men’s and women’s categories has been impressively high, Lamouret’s consistency in the inner two golden rings made it that extra little bit harder for his opponents.

Chinese Taipei’s Pin-An found that out in the hardest way possible.

Sets of 29, 28, 29, 28 and 28 still represent a fine individual display, and overall he only landed one fewer 10 than this year’s Rome 2026 European Youth champion. But in elite sport, fine margins are everything.

Even in his prior match against eventual bronze medallist Jiho, the number one seed didn’t look completely at ease, with his release often visibly giving him trouble, despite still getting most of his arrows into the nine or 10-rings.

Lamouret was the opposite, however, and as his 1.90 metre tall frame stood firmly balanced on the shooting line, his lack of emotion, compared to Singapore 2025 Asia Cup bronze medallist Pin-An, was almost as daunting as his physical presence.

“Yes, I feel ready,” he responded when asked whether he was ready to step up to senior level after Dakar. “Now it’s starting [to click] so I feel ready and hope I will be able to make more [squads].”

Thomas Chirault, Jean-Charles Valladont and Baptiste Addis certainly look like the settled trio for LA28, as they were for Paris 2024. However, should anything happen to them in the Brisbane cycle, whether it be a drop-off in form or injury, Lamouret looks confident that he can fill in without any stress, despite not having competed at that level internationally yet.

He already looks physically and mentally ready for the 70-metre scene.

Tomorrow, it’s the turn of the recurve women in the finals before the mixed team event concludes Dakar on Tuesday.

You can watch it live and for free here.

Podium: Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games

Full results on the event page.

Recurve men

1. Maël Lamouret, France
2. Chen Pin-An, Chinese Taipei
3. Lee Jiho, Korea