China wins 2 athletics golds, Russia dominates gymnastics at Youth Olympics

DAKAR, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- China claimed two golds, one silver and one bronze on the final day of the athletics competition at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday, while Russia swept the men's and women's individual all-around titles in artistic gymnastics.

Sheng Xuefeng won the men's triple jump with a personal-best leap of 16.18 meters.

Delighted to win gold and stand on the podium for China, Sheng said the competition had provided valuable experience at a major event.

"I still need to work on my physical conditioning and technique and keep improving," he said.

Wang Yaru took gold in the women's 5,000-meter race walk, also setting a personal best in 22 minutes and 58.33 seconds.

She said she kept telling herself to persevere and give everything she had for the win in the closing stages of the race.

"To be able to win this for my country, to see my country's flag be raised, it means a lot," she said, adding that she hoped to win more gold medals on bigger stages in the future.

In the women's hammer throw, Ukraine's Milaniia Kokhan won gold with a throw of 71.27 meters, while Yang Xingyue took silver with 65.96 meters.

In the women's 200 meters, Dominican Republic's Patricia Sine edged Antigua and Barbuda's Tyra Fenton by 0.01 seconds to win gold in 23.35 seconds, while China's Chen Xinxuan took bronze.

Chen said she was not satisfied with her performance and hoped to make the most of the winter training period to improve and perform better next season.

In the men's 400-meter hurdles, Jamaica's Jaeden Campbell took gold, while China's Wang Tengfei finished fifth.

For other athletics events, Ethiopia's Yomif Abebe and Elsabet Amare won the men's 800 meters and women's 1,500 meters, respectively. Zimbabwe's Ropafadzo Mzondo claimed the men's 200 meters, while South Africa's Megan Nieman won the women's 400-meter hurdles.

Spain's Gabriel Gonzalez took gold in the men's 5,000-meter race walk, France's Axel Faye won the men's pole vault, and Paraguay's Marko Kaethler claimed the men's javelin throw title. Hungary's Zsofi Marton won the women's shot put, while Kuwait's Yasmeen Roy took gold in the women's high jump.

In gymnastics, Russia dominated the individual all-around finals, sweeping the men's and women's titles through Daniil Smirnov and Polina Dmitrieva.

Speaking about winning the first gold for Russia at the Youth Olympic Games in men's artistic gymnastics, Smirnov said: "I am super proud and it is an honour to win a gold for my country."

China's Yang Lanbin and Li Lezheng finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the men's event. Yang fell off the parallel bars, while Li struggled in the floor exercise and pommel horse. In the women's competition, Zhong Qi took bronze and Xie Guying finished seventh. Zhong failed twice on the floor exercise, while Xie fell from the balance beam.

Zhang Xia, coach of China's women's team, said the competition was intense, with the athletes closely matched in overall ability, making performance on the day decisive.

"I hope the young athletes can gain experience from high-level competitions and identify areas for improvement, so they will be better prepared for future events at a higher level," Zhang added.

Yang and Chen Ziyan will represent China in the mixed team gymnastics competition on Wednesday.

In boxing, China's Zhang Zhengkun defeated Seychelles' Franco Zialor in the men's 60kg quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals, where he will face Puerto Rico's Jesfred Joel Torres Santiago on Wednesday. Wang Jia'en, meanwhile, lost to Egypt's Menatalla Ibrahim in the women's 60kg quarterfinals.

China's women's beach handball team beat Mexico 2-1 in its final group-stage match and will face France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in Saly.

In the women's windsurfing, Wu Ziyan stood second overall after nine races, with races 10 to 12 scheduled for Wednesday.

Among other events, the United States won the mixed team archery title. Kazakhstan's Anel Tashbay and Slovakia's Timotej Michalik claimed gold in the women's and men's individual road cycling time trials, respectively.

Hungary's Lotti Horvath took the women's individual epee title, while host Senegal's Marie Sarr, Jordan's Abdallah Alzawahra and Germany's Luna Fellinger won gold in the women's 55kg, men's 63kg and women's 63kg taekwondo events, respectively.

Except for one gold in gymnastics, Wednesday's program will also feature three gold-medal events in taekwondo, and the men's individual epee final in fencing. In the women's futsal, Venezuela and Ukraine are set to contest the gold-medal match.