New Zealand won gold in 2018, with a side featuring current senior sevens stars Risi Pouri-Lane and Mahina Paul. But they will not defend their medal in Dakar, after the scheduled summer Youth Olympics in 2022 were postponed to 2026 in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While New Zealand are not involved this time around, eight teams will be battling it out for gold medal glory in Senegal over two days of competition. The pool rounds of the women's sevens will start on 2 November and conclude a day later with the medal rounds.
The teams who will be competing are split across two pools. In pool A Australia, China, Kenya and hosts Senegal will go up against each other in a round robin carousel, while in pool B Czechia, Madagascar, Spain and the USA will come up against one another.
For the USA, though, one of their athletes will be heavily involved in earlier events. One of their rising stars, Luisa Moala, has been selected as a flag bearer. She, along with volleyball player Caden Phillips, will lead the team out at the Opening Ceremony on 31 October.
Moala, who is on the USA team alongside her sister Eseta, said: "When I put on the USA jersey, I’m not just wearing it for me, but for my family, everyone who has supported me back home, girls who are growing the game of rugby across the United States.
"I’m representing my country and everything that comes with wearing that jersey. It’s an honour to represent the United States on an international stage. I hope to represent them with pride, gratitude, and humility and show other young girls that they can work toward opportunities like this too."
This will be the fourth edition of the summer Youth Olympics but it will be the third edition to include rugby sevens. It was first played at the Games in 2014, a tournament hosted by China. Twelve years ago Australia were the ones to pick up gold and four years later their rivals New Zealand were crowned.
In 2026 2,700 athletes will compete across all of the sports with 96 of them in the women's sevens.
The full fixture list for the women's rugby sevens is available here.
Watch all Rugby Sevens matches from the Dakar 2026 Summer Youth Olympic live and free here