Zain Ali Completes the Butterfly Treble with a Third Gold in Dakar

Egypt's Zain Ali leads the men's 200m butterfly final from start to finish to win by 2.44 seconds and sweep the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly titles, while Namibia's Lorenzo Esterhuizen and South Africa's Leah Markgraaff finish within a tenth of a second of the places ahead of them

DAKAR, Senegal, Friday 6 November 2026 – Zain Ali went for the treble, and he delivered it. The Egyptian won the men's 200m butterfly at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in 1:57.88, leading at every turn and touching 2.44 seconds clear of Vietnam's Duong van Hoang Quy, to complete a clean sweep of the butterfly events.

It is Ali's third gold medal of the Games, after the 100m butterfly on Sunday and the 50m butterfly on Wednesday. He is the first African swimmer to win three golds in Dakar, and his win takes Africa's swimming medal count to six.

Namibia's Lorenzo Esterhuizen finished seventh in the same final, just two hundredths of a second outside sixth. In the women's 200m freestyle, South Africa's Leah Markgraaff came home strongly to finish eighth, only 0.09 behind seventh place.

Ali: Wire to Wire

Ali swam from lane five, next to Colombia's top qualifier Nicolas Kokidko, and took control from the first length. He turned in 25.55, more than nine-tenths of a second clear of the field, and reached 100m in 54.98, 1.86 seconds ahead of India's Tirthank Pegu.

He was still first at 150m in 1:25.92 and kept his stroke together on the last length to touch in 1:57.88. Duong took silver in 2:00.32 and Pegu bronze in 2:01.25. Kokidko, the fastest qualifier, finished fourth in 2:02.48.

Six Seconds Faster Than the Morning

Ali's final time was 6.43 seconds faster than his heats swim of 2:04.31. In the morning he had done just enough to qualify second. In the afternoon he broke two minutes, the only swimmer in the field to do so, and won by the biggest margin of his three butterfly finals.

Three Distances, Three Golds

Across the week Ali has won every butterfly title on the programme: 50m in 24.06, 100m in 52.16 and 200m in 1:57.88. His winning margins were 0.48, 1.87 and 2.44 seconds. Serbia's Aleksej Kalanj finished second to him twice, in the 50m and the 100m.

All three of Egypt's medals in the pool at these Games are Ali's golds.

Esterhuizen: Two Hundredths from Sixth

Lorenzo Esterhuizen had the fastest reaction in the final for the second time in a day (0.63). He turned sixth at 50m, 100m and 150m and was 1.42 seconds ahead of Malta's Samuel Camilleri with 50m to go. Camilleri closed in 34.27, though, and caught the Namibian on the touch: Camilleri 2:10.15, Esterhuizen 2:10.17.

Esterhuizen's time was 0.65 seconds faster than his heats swim, and in his first final of the Games he finished ahead of Jamaica's Matthew Kennedy.

Markgraaff: Nine Hundredths from Seventh

Leah Markgraaff, swimming from lane eight, had the fastest reaction in the women's 200m freestyle final (0.60). She was eighth at every turn, but her final length of 33.23 cut deep into the lead of Bulgaria's Simona Ivanova. Ivanova had been 1.34 seconds ahead at 150m; Markgraaff finished only 0.09 behind her, in 2:08.07, almost exactly her heats time of 2:08.06.

China's Chang Mohan won gold in 1:59.59, with Croatia's Ana Bobanovic second (2:01.17) and India's Dhinidhi Desinghu third (2:02.28). For Markgraaff, it completes a Games of two finals and one medal, the 400m freestyle silver that opened Africa's account in the pool.

The Continental Picture

After six days of swimming, Africa has six medals: three golds for Egypt, all won by Ali in the butterfly, and two silvers and a bronze for South Africa through Markgraaff and Chanel Veldsman. Esterhuizen and Markgraaff added two more African finals on day six, and Africa has had at least one finalist in every finals session of the swimming programme in our coverage. The swimming programme at Dakar 2026 continues at the Complexe Tour de l'Oeuf.

Results: African Finalists – Day 6 Finals

Men's 200m Butterfly – Final

Podium: 1. Zain ALI (EGY) 1:57.88; 2. DUONG van Hoang Quy (VIE) 2:00.32; 3. Tirthank PEGU (IND) 2:01.25

Women's 200m Freestyle – Final

Podium: 1. CHANG Mohan (CHN) 1:59.59; 2. Ana BOBANOVIC (CRO) 2:01.17; 3. Dhinidhi DESINGHU (IND) 2:02.28

Zain Ali – The Butterfly Treble

African Swimming Medal Tracker – Dakar 2026 (Cumulative)

African Medallists So Far

Sources: Official Results, Events 27 and 30, Finals, Dakar 2026 (Friday 6 November 2026, reports v1.0, 15:35–16:17).

Copyright: Handout image supplied by OIS/IOC. Olympic Information Services OIS.

Credit: OIS/Joel Marklund

Creator: Joel Marklund for OIS/IOC