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Author: Viktoriia Hvozd

"I'm Happy but I Don't Understand What's Going On". Heidarov's "Gold" and Other Day One Events at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games

"I'm Happy but I Don't Understand What's Going On". Heidarov's "Gold" and Other Day One Events at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games
Khazar Heidarov. Photo: NOC Ukraine

Khazar Heidarov opened Ukraine's medal count.

On the first day of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which opened on October 31 in Dakar, Senegal, Ukrainian athletes competed in six events, with judoka Khazar Heidarov claiming the country's first-ever medal.

The DeTalks team is covering the 2026 YOG in Dakar. Subscribe to the Telegram and YouTube channels so as not to miss the most interesting behind-the-scenes of the Games straight from Senegal.

How Team Ukraine fared on the first competition day of the 2026 YOG in Dakar

  • Two Ukrainian swimmers competed in the heats on November 1. Kyrylo Malesyk finished fourth in his 200m backstroke heat and qualified sixth for the final, where he also finished sixth. Taisiia Laryonova, meanwhile, took a non-advancing second place in the 100m butterfly heats.
  • Ukraine's only badminton player lost her opening group-stage match at the Games, with Varvara Poperezhai going down to Great Britain's Raibi Parab (8:21, 16:21).
  • In the qualification of the taijiquan combined event, Nikita Kucheriuk finished 12th.
  • In coastal rowing, the Ukrainian tandem beat Türkiye by more than 25 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals. In the individual events, both Viktoriia Radchenko and Mykola Tomchai advanced to the round of 16 on their second attempt.
  • Ukraine's futsal team won their opening group-stage match against Venezuela, edging their opponents by one goal in extra time (5:4).
  • The national team's competition day was capped by Khazar Heidarov's final bout. The Ukrainian judoka had earlier finished both of his qualifying bouts by ippon. In the final, Khazar faced the cadet world champion — Canada's Anes Mati.

    Neither athlete scored in regulation time, and only in the fourth minute of extra time did the Canadian pick up a third shido (warning), handing Heidarov Ukraine's debut judo "gold" at the YOG.

After the first competition day, the national team sits second in the interim medal table with one gold medal, a position it shares with five other countries.

2026 YOG medal table by country, November 1

  1. Argentina (1 "gold"+ 0 "silver" + 1 "bronze")
  1. Azerbaijan (1+0+0)
  1. Ecuador (1+0+0)
  1. Egypt (1+0+0)
  1. New Zealand (1+0+0)
  1. Russian Federation (1+0+0)
  1. Türkiye (1+0+0)
  1. Ukraine (1+0+0)

The fourth Youth Olympic Games are taking place from October 31 to November 13 in Dakar, Senegal. Ukraine is represented at the Games by 38 athletes in 14 sports.

DeTalks' "African Adventures" in Dakar: day 0

Watch the video recap of the Games' "zero" day on the DeTalks YouTube channel.