South Africa's Leah Markgraaff leads from the front and fights back to the podium, while 14-year-old Tunisian Ilef Zouaghi, the youngest swimmer in the field, wins her heat and finishes fifth overall
DAKAR, Senegal – Sunday 1 November 2026 – Leah Markgraaff refused to let the moment pass quietly. The 17-year-old South African went out harder than anyone in the fastest heat, led at the 50m and 100m marks, got swallowed by the pack through the middle of the race, and then fought her way back to win silver in the women's 400m freestyle at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in 4:26.13.
Her medal came at the Complexe Tour de l'Oeuf, at the first Olympic event ever staged on African soil, and it led a strong African showing. Eight African nations (South Africa, Tunisia, Namibia, Morocco, Angola, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Côte d'Ivoire) provided eight of the 21 starters. Three of them finished in the top eight, and nearly all of them gave the race a story worth telling.
The event was swum as a timed final over three heats: two slower-seeded heats, then the fastest heat, with medals and places decided on time across all 21 swimmers. That meant a swimmer in an earlier heat could beat swimmers in the final heat, and one African teenager did exactly that.
Markgraaff: Out Fast, Never Out of It
Markgraaff started from lane two with a 0.61 reaction, the joint-fastest in the field. She turned at 29.95 and reached 100m in 1:02.61, the quickest 100m split of all 21 swimmers.
Then the race tightened. Bulgaria's Simona Ivanova led at 150m (1:36.19). Ecuador's Elvira Espinosa took control at 200m (2:09.95), with Markgraaff third in 2:10.31. At 250m the South African was still third, just 0.05 behind Ivanova.
She made her move on the sixth length. Markgraaff swam 34.17 to Ivanova's 34.93, went past her into second at 300m (3:18.33) and was never caught again. She reached the wall in 4:26.13, 2.24 seconds clear of Belgium's Celya Paques (4:28.37), who closed in 32.09, the fastest final length of the race, to take bronze from Ivanova by 0.06. Espinosa won gold in 4:22.87.
Markgraaff's pacing told the story: after her fast opening 100m, her last three 100m splits were 1:07.70, 1:08.02 and 1:07.80, only 0.32 seconds apart.
Zouaghi: Fourteen and Fearless
If Markgraaff gave Africa its medal, Ilef Zouaghi gave it the swim of the morning. Born on 21 June 2012, the Tunisian was the youngest swimmer in the event. She was seeded into the second of three heats, and she swam as if she had never been told.
From lane four, Zouaghi reached 100m in 1:02.69. That was only 0.08 behind Markgraaff and faster than every other swimmer in the fastest heat, gold medallist Espinosa included (1:03.28). She won her heat by 3.11 seconds from Kyrgyzstan's Aiymkyz Aidaralieva, stopping the clock at 4:29.42.
The wait for the fastest heat confirmed it: fifth overall, ahead of four of the eight swimmers in the final heat, and just 1.05 seconds off the podium. At 14, Zouaghi is a name to remember.
Bergh Sets the Early Pace
Namibia's Madison Sara Bergh, 17, swam the fastest opening 50m of all 21 swimmers, an aggressive 29.91 that put her ahead of her heat early. She was still fifth-fastest across the whole field at 100m (1:03.29). The middle of the race was harder, but Bergh held on for third in her heat in 4:37.03. That placed her eighth overall, 0.69 ahead of Serbia's fast-finishing Lena Begenisic, and earned Namibia a top-eight finish.
Morocco's Fine Margins
Morocco's Yasmin Rhalmane Hmidi, 16, swam from lane one of the fastest heat and finished sixth in that heat in 4:38.47, eleventh overall. Her race came down to two tiny margins. At 350m she was 0.94 behind Iceland's Solveig Hakonardottir, but a 34.28 final length overturned that and beat her by 0.29. She also missed tenth place overall by just one hundredth of a second, to Slovenia's Neza Hren, who had swum in a different heat.
Santo and Suubi Finish Strongly
Angola's Rhanya Santo, 17, finished in 4:50.24 for sixth in her heat and fifteenth overall, and she saved her best for last. With 50m to go she was 1.51 behind Mongolia's Orgilmaa Badrakh. Santo then swam a 34.31 final length, faster than the closing 50m of both fourth-placed Ivanova and Zouaghi, and won that battle by 0.89.
Uganda's Mary Peyton Suubi, 16, matched Markgraaff's 0.61 reaction, the best in the field. She then did something only one other swimmer in the event managed: she negative-split the race, going out in 2:26.84 and coming home in 2:25.75. Her final 100m (1:11.29) was her fastest after the opening one, and she finished in 4:52.59, seventeenth overall.
Zimbabwe and Côte d'Ivoire Complete the Picture
Zimbabwe's Daniella Maitaishe Viki turned 16 only ten days before the race. She finished third in the opening heat in 5:02.74, nineteenth overall, and her final 100m (1:15.91) was faster than either of her two middle 100m splits.
Côte d'Ivoire's Malika Erina Aidy Camara, 16, completed all 16 lengths in 6:08.34, and her last 50m (46.58) was the fastest of her final five lengths. She kept her country on the start list of an Olympic distance freestyle event held in Africa, and that has value of its own.
The Continental Picture
Across one event, African swimmers delivered a silver medal, the youngest swimmer in the race finishing fifth, the fastest opening 50m, the fastest 100m split, the joint-best reaction and one of only two negative splits in the field. Markgraaff's podium was the headline, but the real story was how deep the African field was: from Pretoria to Tunis, Windhoek to Kampala, Africa's next generation of distance swimmers showed they belong in this company.
The Dakar 2026 swimming programme continues at the Complexe Tour de l'Oeuf.
RESULTS: WOMEN'S 400M FREESTYLE – TIMED FINAL
Podium
| Medal | Swimmer | NOC | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Elvira ESPINOSA | ECU | 4:22.87 |
| Silver | Leah MARKGRAAFF | RSA | 4:26.13 |
| Bronze | Celya PAQUES | BEL | 4:28.37 |
African Swimmers
| Overall | Swimmer | NOC | Age | Heat (Lane) | Heat Place | R.T. | Time | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Leah MARKGRAAFF | RSA | 17 | Fastest (2) | 2 | 0.61 | 4:26.13 | +3.26 |
| 5 | Ilef ZOUAGHI | TUN | 14 | Slowest 2 (4) | 1 | 0.80 | 4:29.42 | +6.55 |
| 8 | Madison Sara BERGH | NAM | 17 | Slowest 2 (5) | 3 | 0.69 | 4:37.03 | +14.16 |
| 11 | Yasmin RHALMANE HMIDI | MAR | 16 | Fastest (1) | 6 | 0.73 | 4:38.47 | +15.60 |
| 15 | Rhanya SANTO | ANG | 17 | Slowest 2 (7) | 6 | 0.75 | 4:50.24 | +27.37 |
| 17 | Mary Peyton SUUBI | UGA | 16 | Slowest 2 (8) | 8 | 0.61 | 4:52.59 | +29.72 |
| 19 | Daniella Maitaishe VIKI | ZIM | 16 | Slowest 1 (6) | 3 | 0.79 | 5:02.74 | +39.87 |
| 21 | Malika Erina Aidy CAMARA | CIV | 16 | Slowest 1 (2) | 5 | 0.64 | 6:08.34 | +1:45.47 |
African participation: 8 swimmers from 8 nations, out of 21 starters. African medal count for the event: Gold 0, Silver 1 (RSA), Bronze 0.
Key African Splits
| Swimmer | 50m | 100m | 200m | 300m | Final 50m | 1st half / 2nd half |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARKGRAAFF (RSA) | 29.95 | 1:02.61 | 2:10.31 | 3:18.33 | 33.59 | 2:10.31 / 2:15.82 |
| ZOUAGHI (TUN) | 30.08 | 1:02.69 | 2:10.62 | 3:20.01 | 34.77 | 2:10.62 / 2:18.80 |
| BERGH (NAM) | 29.91 | 1:03.29 | 2:13.91 | 3:26.09 | 34.99 | 2:13.91 / 2:23.12 |
| RHALMANE HMIDI (MAR) | 31.43 | 1:05.93 | 2:15.84 | 3:28.33 | 34.28 | 2:15.84 / 2:22.63 |
| SANTO (ANG) | 32.53 | 1:08.82 | 2:23.90 | 3:38.87 | 34.31 | 2:23.90 / 2:26.34 |
| SUUBI (UGA) | 33.07 | 1:10.13 | 2:26.84 | 3:41.30 | 34.81 | 2:26.84 / 2:25.75 |
| VIKI (ZIM) | 34.21 | 1:11.42 | 2:28.65 | 3:46.83 | 37.38 | 2:28.65 / 2:34.09 |
| CAMARA (CIV) | 34.48 | 1:18.33 | 2:54.61 | 4:32.57 | 46.58 | 2:54.61 / 3:13.73 |
Source: Official Results Summary, Event 5, Women's 400m Freestyle, Dakar 2026 (report v1.0, created 1 Nov 2026 14:17).
Copyright: Handout image supplied by OIS/IOC. Olympic Information Services OIS.
Credit: OIS/Joel Marklund
Creator: Joel Marklund for OIS/IOC
