Dylan Bettencourt
Kenya won their 10th gold medal at the African Athletics Championships on Sunday to finish just one gold ahead of South Africa.
This is the second consecutive time Kenya have ended the championships with the most gold medals.
Kenya ended the event with 23 medals in total while second place South Africa had a superior 36 medals.
Both Nigeria and Algeria won five gold medals to finish tied third, ahead of Botswana and Ethiopia with four gold medals each.
Burkina Faso claimed two gold medals as six nations ended the championship with one gold medal each.
No single gold medal had more meaning as Niger’s sprinter Aminatou Seyni made history in the 200m race by winning Niger’s first ever gold medal.
Seyni beat American legend Allyson Felix to win the gold medal.
“This is my first gold medal and the first gold medal for Niger. I’m very pleased and very proud,” Seyni told BBC Sport.
The event, held in Mauritius, wasn’t without issues as torrential rain and heavy wind made programming difficult.
The men’s 200m champion Letsile Tebogo from Botswana said the athletes were rushed into races, which could have led to injuries.
“The medal means a lot to me. It will make me push even harder to get more medals for my country,” he said.
“The conditions were bad because I hadn’t done enough warm-up and we rushed to get into the race and it was raining. But you have to do your best and make people enjoy athletics,” he said.
The 23rd edition of the games is scheduled to take place in 2024 with Cameroon as the host country.
Image source: @TimeNews
