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Muchirahondo with his second gold of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (IOC)
New Zealand Team swimmer Ariel Muchirahondo has won gold again at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, taking out the 100m backstroke on day three to add to his 200m backstroke title from the opening day of competition.
This was a tight race. Greece’s Nikolaos Papatheodorou led for the first 75m, and Muchirahondo had work to do as the swimmers approached the finish.
The 17-year-old Kiwi stayed composed, kept himself in touch, then found a final surge to lunge at the wall and touch in 55.69 – just a tenth of a second clear of Papatheodorou. Portugal’s Miguel Reis Oliveira claimed bronze.
The result rewrites history again for Muchirahondo, he is now the first New Zealand swimmer to win multiple medals at a Youth Olympic Games.
Follow all the action live on olympics.com and follow the NZ Team on social media for all the latest action from Dakar 2026.
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Muchirahondo touched just a tenth of a second ahead of his second place (IOC)