Dhinidhi Desinghu Wins Historic Bronze at Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics, Becomes First Indian Swimmer to Medal

Indian swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu created history by winning the bronze medal in the Women’s 100m freestyle event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. In the final event she clocked a national record time of 56.27 seconds to become the first Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Youth Olympics. This has also won the first medal for India at this year’s event in Senegal.

Dhinidhi Desinghu wins historic Bronze at Dakar 2026

Dhinidhi clocked a personal best and national record time of 56.27 seconds in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Final. She finished behind Croatia’s Ana Bobanovic (Gold – 55.89 Seconds) and Alyssa Lawson (Silver – 56.13 Seconds) from New Zealand.

She finished just 0.14 seconds behind the Silver medalist and 0.38 seconds behind the Gold medalist. This makes her the,

• First Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
• First Indian medalist at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
• She previously became the first Indian female swimmer to reach the final of the Youth Olympic Games.

New National Record in Women’s 100m Freestyle

She improved her time from the heats to the final. In the heats she clocked in at 56.80 seconds to rank 3rd fastest overall.

In the final she improved her time by 0.53 seconds to win Bronze with a new national record time of 56.27 seconds.

• Athlete: Dhinidhi Desinghu
• Age: 16
• Sport: Swimming
• Event: Women’s 100m Freestyle
• Competition: Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games
• Medal: Bronze
• Final Time: 56.27 Seconds
• Earlier Time: 56.80 Seconds
• Gold Medalist: Ana Bobanovic (Croatia)
• Silver Medalist: Alyssa Lawson (New Zealand)

Overcoming Her Fear of Water

Dhinidhi had a fear of water and when she was around 6/7 years old she would run home from the pool wearing her swimming costume.

Eventually her parents convinced her to take swimming lessons by jumping into the pool. She became interested in swimming and started to compete.

Her talent has taken her to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where she became the youngest member of the Indian team at just 14 years old. This allowed her to gain invaluable experience competing with some of the best swimmers in the world.