KUUMAR SHYAM (ALETIHAD)
The UAE medal tally has risen to four – two gold, one silver and one bronze – at the fourth edition of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal.
Saeed Omar won gold in the men’s 400 metres race and Aisha Mohammed took bronze in the women’s 400m. This is UAE’s best haul at the Youth Olympic Games since the inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010.
Saeed shone in the men’s 400m final, taking first place with his run 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 participation in the Youth Olympic Games, confirming the brilliance of the national team’s runners on the Olympic track.
After the opening of UAE’s medal tally with Riyan Malhan’s gold in badminton, the athletes have shown the way with three medals so far.
There has been one more gold but in a team format where UAE’s equestrian rider Alya Almheiri played a winning part in Team Asia winning the gold collectively.
In the women’s 400m final, Aisha won the bronze medal, finishing third in 53.06 seconds, also a personal best, behind Nigeria’s Praise Ugoh, who took gold in 52.76 seconds, and Venezuela’s Osmary Pacheco coming in at 52.85 seconds.
Earlier, Arwa Ali won a silver in the women’s 100m in 11.41s, becoming the first Emirati woman to win a medal in the event’s history whike securing the UAE’s first athletics medal.