Praise Ugoh becomes first Nigerian woman to win 400m gold at Youth Olympics
Praise Ugoh won Nigeria’s third gold medal on Monday at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. With the victory, Ugoh made history as the first Nigerian woman to win a 400m title at the Youth Olympics.
Ugoh ran a personal best of 52.76 seconds to win gold, ahead of Osmary Pacheco of Venezuela (52.85 seconds for silver) and Aisha Muhammed of the UAE (53.06 seconds for bronze).
Ugoh booked her place in the final on Sunday after finishing second in the semi-final in 54.38 seconds, behind Pacheco, who won in 53.01 seconds.
Nigeria, now with three gold medals and no silver or bronze medals yet as of the filing of this report, has climbed from 14th to 11th on the medals table.
Ugoh joined compatriots Rosemary Nwankwo and Gift Bright, who also made history for Nigeria on Sunday by becoming the first country to win both 100-meter races at the same edition of the Youth Olympics.
In other events at the games, Nigeria’s Rita Chisom Ezeh ran 1:01.66 to finish seventh in the second semi-final of the women’s 400m hurdles. In the men’s high jump final, Obanla Ehuwa, despite clearing a personal-best height of 1.97 metres, still finished eight.
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