Rwanda’s Abizera Sonia Eli-Elohe has qualified for the women’s 400 metres final at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, while several other athletes representing the country have recorded personal bests across different disciplines.
Abizera secured her place in Monday’s final after finishing fifth in her semi-final on Sunday in 57.29 seconds. The performance also improved her personal best of 58.33 seconds.
She is scheduled to compete for a medal at 6:50 p.m. Kigali time on Monday, November 9, at Complexe Iba Mar Diop.
Rwanda is competing in athletics, swimming, Kung Fu Wushu, cycling and taekwondo at the Games, with swimmers among those who have made notable progress.
Mugabo Aragsan set a new national record in the men’s 50m freestyle, clocking 29.94 seconds. He also improved his personal best in the 50m backstroke with a time of 36.33 seconds.
Ntwali Jayden recorded personal bests in both the 50m freestyle, finishing in 27.15 seconds, and the 50m butterfly, in 28.66 seconds.
Kalisa Keza also improved her times, setting personal bests of 36.11 seconds in the 50m butterfly and three minutes, 6.58 seconds in the 200m backstroke.
Murenzi Sheja Kean competed in the 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle. She improved her personal best in the 100m butterfly, recording one minute, 3.89 seconds — 4.75 seconds faster than her previous time.
In Kung Fu Wushu, Mugisha François narrowly missed qualification for the final after finishing ninth overall in the Changquan and Gunshu events. He scored 7.966 in Changquan and 7.863 in Gunshu, for a combined 15.829 points. Only the top eight advanced.
In cycling, Akimana Donatha finished 22nd among 41 competitors in the women’s 59.5km road race, while Shema Emmanuel placed 29th in the men’s 69.5km race.
Both cyclists are due back in action on Tuesday in the 8.5km individual time trial at Corniche Ouest. Rwanda’s Uwamahoro Françoise is also scheduled to compete in the under-49kg women’s taekwondo category on Monday.
