Golden girls: Kenya's Rising Lionesses beat Australia for Dakar Olympics 2026 rugby gold

Kenya's Rising Lionesses won the girls' rugby sevens gold medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday 3 November, beating Australia 17-12 after extra time in the final. It is Kenya's first gold medal of the Games, Mozzart Sport and K24 Digital report.

Captain Zain Hido scored the try that made it 5-5 at half-time. Josephine Kerubo's try, converted by Diana Wanjiku, brought Kenya level at 12-12, and Kenya scored the winning try in extra time. It was sweet revenge: Australia had beaten Kenya 17-5 in the pool, Kenya's only defeat of the tournament.

On the way to the final, Kenya beat China 12-5 and hosts Senegal 19-0 in the pool, then Madagascar 15-5 in the semi-final. "Today's two matches were tough but we managed to win them all," Kerubo said after the pool wins, Citizen Digital reports. Before Dakar, all 15 of Kenya's Youth Olympic medals had come in athletics.

Kenya's Baseball5 team finished fourth in the sport's first Youth Olympic tournament. Ranked 10th in the world, they topped their group with wins over France, Mexico and Syria, lost the semi-final 2-0 to Cuba, then lost the bronze-medal match to Mexico in three sets: Mexico won the first 13-4, Kenya the second 3-2, and Mexico the decider. "I am extremely proud of the team's character," coach Joel Wangicho told K24 Digital during the group stage.

In judo, Rael Kuloba's under-52kg campaign ended in the repechage. Kenya's strongest event is still to come: athletics runs from 8 to 10 November at the Complexe Iba Mar Diop in Dakar. We will follow every Kenyan there and post the results here.