Egypt’s Zain Ali completed a sweep of the men’s butterfly titles at the Youth Olympic Games, winning the final to claim his third gold medal.
The 17-year-old clocked a personal best of 1:57.88, finishing 2.44 seconds ahead of Vietnam’s Duong Van Hoang Quy, who took silver in 2:00.32. India’s Tirthank Pegu claimed bronze in 2:01.25.
The victory came in the final race of the swimming programme, adding to Ali’s earlier wins over 50m and 100m.
“It was absolutely my goal from the start. This was what I trained for,” Ali said after completing the treble.
Ali opened his campaign with the 100m title on November 1, touching in 52.16 seconds to beat Serbia’s Aleksej Kalanj by 1.87 seconds and secure Egypt’s first gold of the Games.
He returned to win the 50m final on November 4 in 24.06 seconds. Kalanj again finished second, this time in 24.54, ahead of Cyprus’s Andrew Marcus Laghoutis in 24.57.
Ali had already shown his form in the 50m heats, setting a personal best of 24.00 seconds before taking the title later that day.
Egypt’s other medallists in Senegal include Sondos Sonbol, who won wushu gold, and Ali El Ramly, who took bronze in the men’s under-81kg judo competition.
The Dakar Games are the first Olympic sporting event held in Africa. Competition across the remaining sports continues until November 13.