South Africa's Eric Kotze takes fourth in the men's 50m backstroke, his best result in three sprint finals, while Chanel Veldsman finishes sixth in the women's 50m breaststroke to close a Games that brought her silver and bronze
DAKAR, Senegal, Thursday 5 November 2026 – Eric Kotze saved his best for his third final. The 16-year-old South African finished fourth in the men's 50m backstroke at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in 26.16, only 0.25 seconds away from a medal, in a final so close at the top that two swimmers shared gold.
Greece's Nikolaos Papatheodorou and Portugal's Miguel Reis Oliveira touched together in 25.69 and were both awarded gold. Belgium's van Hoey Billiet took bronze in 25.91.
Earlier in the afternoon, teammate Chanel Veldsman swam her third breaststroke final of the Games, finishing sixth in the women's 50m breaststroke in 32.86. It completed a breaststroke programme that has already brought her 200m bronze and 100m silver.
Neither swim changed the medal table, which stays at five medals for Africa: two golds for Egypt and two silvers and a bronze for South Africa.
Kotze: Faster Every Time
Kotze qualified fourth for the final in 26.51 and swam from lane six. In the final he was 0.35 seconds faster, touching in 26.16 to hold off Croatia's Jakov Wozdecky (26.77) by more than half a second.
It was the best of his three finals in two days, and his places have improved each time: eighth in the 50m freestyle, fifth in the 50m butterfly and fourth in the 50m backstroke. Few swimmers at these Games have reached sprint finals in three different strokes, and Kotze has done it at his first Youth Olympic Games.
Veldsman: Three Finals, Two Medals
Veldsman qualified fifth for the women's 50m breaststroke final in 32.72 and swam from lane two. She finished sixth in 32.86, 0.27 behind Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Hien in fifth and 0.82 from the bronze.
Japan's Ishikawa Mana won in 31.76 to complete a breaststroke treble at 50m, 100m and 200m. Veldsman raced her in all three finals. Lebanon's Thea Obeid took silver (32.00) and Hong Kong's Man Wui Kiu bronze (32.04).
Across the week Veldsman swam six breaststroke races: three heats and three finals. She won bronze in the 200m in 2:30.87 and silver in the 100m in 1:09.48, and she is one of only two African swimmers, with Egypt's Zain Ali, to win two medals in Dakar.
South Africa's Week in the Pool
Kotze and Veldsman are part of a South African team that has been in the medal fight all week. Leah Markgraaff won the continent's first swimming medal of the Games with 400m freestyle silver on day one, Veldsman added bronze and silver in the breaststroke, and Matthew Goller finished fifth in the men's 400m freestyle. With three medals, South Africa has the most medals of any African nation in the pool, while Egypt's two golds keep it top of the African table.
Reserves Not Called
Madagascar's Tendry Rakotobe and Kenya's Jeremy Rieck (men's 50m backstroke) and Tunisia's Ilef Omri (women's 50m breaststroke) were on standby as reserves after the morning heats. None of them was called up, as both finals went ahead with the original eight qualifiers.
The Continental Picture
Day five began with 58 African swimmers from 33 nations in the morning heats, and two South Africans carried the continent's hopes into the afternoon finals. Africa has now had at least one finalist in every finals session of the swimming programme in our coverage, and the continent's five medals have come from two nations: Egypt (2-0-0) and South Africa (0-2-1). The swimming programme at Dakar 2026 continues at the Complexe Tour de l'Oeuf.
Results: African Finalists – Day 5 Finals
Men's 50m Backstroke – Final
| Place | Swimmer | NOC | Lane | R.T. | Final | Heats | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Eric KOTZE | RSA | 6 | 0.64 | 26.16 | 26.51 | -0.35 |
Podium: 1= Nikolaos PAPATHEODOROU (GRE) 25.69; 1= Miguel REIS OLIVEIRA (POR) 25.69; 3. van HOEY BILLIET (BEL) 25.91
Women's 50m Breaststroke – Final
| Place | Swimmer | NOC | Lane | R.T. | Final | Heats | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Chanel VELDSMAN | RSA | 2 | 0.68 | 32.86 | 32.72 | +0.14 |
Podium: 1. ISHIKAWA Mana (JPN) 31.76; 2. Thea OBEID (LBN) 32.00; 3. MAN Wui Kiu (HKG) 32.04
Eric Kotze – Dakar 2026 Finals
| Event | Heats | Final | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's 50m Freestyle | 23.54 (5) | 23.76 | 8 |
| Men's 50m Butterfly | 24.86 (5) | 24.88 | 5 |
| Men's 50m Backstroke | 26.51 (4) | 26.16 | 4 |
Chanel Veldsman – Dakar 2026 Finals
| Event | Heats | Final | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's 200m Breaststroke | 2:33.36 (3) | 2:30.87 | 3 (Bronze) |
| Women's 100m Breaststroke | 1:10.93 (3) | 1:09.48 | 2 (Silver) |
| Women's 50m Breaststroke | 32.72 (5) | 32.86 | 6 |
African Swimming Medal Tracker – Dakar 2026 (Cumulative)
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| South Africa | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Africa Total | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Sources: Official Results, Events 24 and 25, Finals, Dakar 2026 (Thursday 5 November 2026, reports v1.0, 15:09–15:34).
