UAE achieves another gold medal at Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games

UAE's Saeed Omar has won gold in the men’s 400m at the Youth Olympic Games in Senegal's Dakar, adding another medal to the delegations best-ever haul at the sports championship.

Saeed Omar shone in the men’s 400m final, taking first place and the gold medal in 46.40 seconds, a personal best. He finished ahead of Gambia’s Mustapha Jadama, who won silver in 46.93 seconds, while China’s Han Liu took bronze in 47.16 seconds.

With this achievement, Saeed gave the UAE its second gold in Dakar and the first for UAE athletics in its history of participating at the Youth Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, in the women’s 400m final, Aisha Mohammed won the bronze medal, finishing third in 53.06 seconds, a personal best, behind Nigeria’s Praise Ugoh, who took gold in 52.76 seconds, and Venezuela’s Osmary Pacheco, the silver medallist in 52.85 seconds.

With these two medals, the UAE’s athletics tally at the Games rose to four, with two gold, one silver, and one bronze. 

Arwa Ali had opened the sport’s account by winning silver in the women’s 100m in 11.41 seconds, becoming the first Emirati woman to win a medal in the history of the Youth Olympic Games and securing the UAE’s first athletics medal at the event.

Riyan Malhan later secured the UAE's first gold medal in its history at the boys’ singles in badminton after beating France’s Mady Sow in the final.