GEHARD: High jumper Matao le Roux sailed to gold at the Youth Olympics in Dakar with a height of 2.16m.

Image: Team South Africa

MATAO le Roux leapt into the record books at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, claiming South Africa’s first-ever high jump gold medal in the history of the event on Monday.

The 17-year-old’s 2.16m masterclass headlined a three-medal track-and-field harvest that lifted Team SA’s overall tally to nine – matching the nation’s best haul set in Singapore in 2010.

Locked in a tense head-to-head battle with China’s Sen Liu at the Iba Mar Diop Stadium, the Caledon native held his nerve under moerse pressure, jumping cleanly over the bar on his first attempt at 2.16m to seal the title.

With the SA flag draped around his shoulders after his win, Le Roux did a joyous, spontaneous celebratory dance on track that brought the Senegalese crowd roaring to their feet

Le Roux wysed: “I was really struggling with my first three jumps and I was being put under immense pressure.

“On the fourth jump I decided enough was enough and I went to put the pressure on him. I got into the groove and it flowed from there.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me, especially my mother. The two of us have been struggling for a long time and I hope this medal brings us opportunities we never had before.”

Le Roux becomes SA’s second gold medallist in Dakar, joining rower Callum Dreyer on the top step of the podium.

BRONZE: Darius Botha

Image: Team SA Facebook

The medals kept coming on the track and in the field.

Despite an early starting block malfunction, Enrique Bosch showed kwaai grit in the 110m hurdles final, clocking 13.45 seconds to finish third.

Bosch said: “I think I could have secured a silver or pushed for the gold if it was not for the start, but I don’t mind too much. I am so happy to have won this medal, for myself and for the team.”

Meanwhile, Darius Botha won bronze in the shot put with a 19.23m effort, proudly marking his podium finish in the first Olympic event staged on African soil.