Ecuador’s Elvira Espinosa won the first gold medal of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, taking the women’s 400m freestyle in swimming in 4:22.87. Her personal best put her 3.26 seconds clear of South Africa’s Leah Markgraaff, with Belgium’s Célya Paques third. Espinosa became the first Ecuadorian female to win gold at any Youth Olympic Games.
Egypt’s Zain Ali won the men’s 100m butterfly in 52.16, ahead of Serbia’s Aleksej Kalanj and Slovakia’s Matiáš Krištof. New Zealand’s Ariel Muchirahondo took the men’s 200m backstroke in 1:59.15, while Argentina’s Cecilia Dieleke won the women’s 200m backstroke in 2:10.05, ahead of Greece’s Eirini Zervou.
In judo, Ukraine’s Khazar Heydarov won the men’s -66kg final against Canada’s Anes Mati by hansoku-make in golden score, as Senegal’s Matar Diop claimed a bronze-medal contest by waza-ari, the hosts’ first medal of these Games. Azerbaijan’s İbrahim Talıbov beat Croatia’s Jona Žvorc by waza-ari for men’s -55kg gold and Türkiye’s Sema Yuksel overcame Jordan’s Houda Wshah by ippon in the women’s -44kg final.
Senegal beat Fiji 8–1 in women’s futsal Group A on the first day of the competition.
Elsewhere, Egypt were fastest in the mixed double sculls second time trial in rowing coastal beach sprints; Senegal’s Aminata Tine and Nafi Segnane triumphed over the Dominican Republic 2–0 in women’s beach volleyball; Türkiye beat Senegal 2–0 in baseball5, and France defeated Japan 48–0 in men’s rugby sevens.
Monday brings the mixed double sculls gold medal race at 12:55 Dakar time (GMT), swimming’s 100m freestyle and 200m breaststroke finals from 15:00, three more judo finals and the men’s rugby sevens gold-medal game at 17:05.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/dakar-2026/news/dakar-2026-espinosa-first-gold-swimming-judo-day-1-recap
