Two East African teenagers to watch when the running starts in Dakar
Kenya's David Kapaiko went from herding cattle to a world U20 medal; Ethiopia's Elsabet Amare runs for her hometown of Injibara.
Dakar — Athletics at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games runs from 8 to 10 November at the Iba Mar Diop complex, and two young middle-distance runners from East Africa arrive with big ambitions.
David Kapaiko, Kenya, 16
Three years ago Kapaiko was a schoolboy in Kajiado county, training barefoot and herding his father's cattle. His coach, Edcain Mutua, spotted him winning race after race "but not getting tired", took him to the Emali Athletics Camp and found him a school nearby, sparing him a 17km walk.
Since then he has won 1,500m gold at the Africa School Games and Africa Youth Games, and silver at the 2026 World U20 Championships in Eugene. The government reward for that medal let him rebuild the herd that drought had wiped out and start building a house for his parents. In Dakar he runs the 800m, where his best is 1:50.21. "We have set him a target of between 1:45 and 1:46," Mutua said.
Elsabet Amare, Ethiopia, 17
Elsabet grew up in Injibara, in the Awi zone of Amhara, about 440km from Addis Ababa. Her father, a history teacher who followed the sport closely, introduced her to the stories of Haile Gebrselassie, Tirunesh Dibaba and her own hero, Meseret Defar.
At an under-18 meeting in Nigeria in 2025, she sat behind Kenya's Vicody Chemutai until the last 200 metres and then sprinted clear to win the 800m in 2:02.96, a run World Athletics called "a tactical masterclass". She hopes her journey will help young runners at home: "There are so many talented runners there."
Source: Bird Story Agency via allAfrica (Kapaiko, Elsabet Amare), November 2026.
