Elvira Espinosa of Ecuador claimed the first gold medal of the Dakar Youth Olympic Games on November 1, winning the women’s 400-meter freestyle in an outdoor pool while setting a personal best, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Espinosa Claims First Gold in Outdoor Pool
The opening competition day at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games featured five swimming gold medals. Espinosa led the medal table by capturing the women’s 400-meter freestyle title. Although it is an open-air pool, I adapted very well,
Espinosa said after the race. I even set my personal best, and I am very satisfied with my performance.
Additional swimming titles went to Argentina’s Dialeck in the women’s 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:10.05, and New Zealand’s Muchirahondo in the men’s 200-meter backstroke at 1:59.15. In the butterfly events, Russia’s Fokina won the women’s 100-meter gold in 59.81 seconds, while Egypt’s Zain Ali secured the men’s 100-meter title in 52.16 seconds.
Wushu Makes Olympic Series Debut
Wushu appeared as an official competition event in an Olympic-series program for the first time on November 1. At the Dakar Exhibition Center, 47 athletes representing 46 countries and regions competed across four disciplines: men’s and women’s changquan all-around and men’s and women’s taijiquan all-around.
The Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 are officially open! 👏#Olympics #YouthOlympics #Dakar2026 #OpeningCeremony @jojdakar2026 pic.twitter.com/t4U1vomW02
Chinese competitor Lin Yilei advanced to the elimination round after placing first in the men’s changquan preliminary changquan routine. United States athlete Bretton finished third in the men’s taijiquan preliminaries. I think this is a very important moment for Wushu,
Bretton said. I hope we can maintain this momentum, push Wushu further into the world, and let more people understand Wushu.
Judo and Badminton Open Group Play
Judo competition concluded with Azerbaijan’s Talibov and Ukraine’s Haidarov winning the men’s 55kg and 66kg titles, respectively. Turkey’s Yuksel captured the women’s 44kg gold medal. Haidarov noted after his victory that the tournament represents a stepping stone toward broader Olympic aspirations.
In badminton matches, Chinese athletes advanced in their opening group fixtures. Zhang Yixin defeated Finland’s Kandala 2-0 in the women’s singles, and Hong Tianyue overcame Indonesia’s Akshara 2-1 in the men’s singles.
Rowing, Volleyball, and Table Tennis Results
At the Saly venue for coastal rowing beach sprints, the Chinese mixed duo of Su Juntao and Liu Lili defeated Mexico with a time of 2:16.57 to reach the mixed relay quarterfinals. Su also placed second in the men’s single sculls second round time trial to advance to the round of 16. In beach volleyball, China’s Zhuang Ming and Qi Siyu defeated Paraguay’s Sofía Martínez and Gómez Martínez 2-0, finishing second in their group with two wins from three matches to reach the elimination stage.
Table tennis matches in Jamniadja brought mixed outcomes for Chinese competitors. Yao Ruixuan won her women’s singles group matches 3-0 against Venezuela’s Ferrer and Algeria’s Morris. Li Hechen defeated Germany’s Lindelöf and Turkey’s Özjar in men’s singles. However, in the mixed doubles event, Li and Yao lost 3-1 to Japan’s Ryusei Kawakami and Miku Matsushima, exiting before the semifinals.
My performance did not meet expectations, and I was a bit restrained and conservative on the court,
Yao said after her singles matches, adding that she hopes to release her tension in subsequent games. Li stated that he approached his matches with the mindset of challenging opponents, emphasizing the need to fight for every point without relaxation.
Schedule for November 2
Competition continues on November 2, with nine gold medals scheduled across swimming, judo, coastal rowing beach sprints, and rugby sevens.
Worth a look
