South Africa's Aiden Smith wins shot put gold, Rwanda's Emeline Imanizabayo claims shock 5.000m gold
Three gold medals were handed out on Day 1 of the African Senior Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana. Find out the highlights of the day's action.
South Africa’s Aiden Smith continued his impressive start to the season by winning the first gold medal of the African Athletics Championships 2026 in Accra, Ghana, while Rwanda’s Emeline Imanizayo produced a surprise victory in the women’s 5,000m final on Day 1 of the competition.
The 21-year-old University of Johannesburg student threw 20.01 metres to secure victory ahead of Egypt’s Mostafa Amr Ahmed, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalist, who claimed silver with 18.89m. Cameroon’s Billy Jospen Takougoum took bronze with a best effort of 17.01m.
Rwandan Emiline Imanizabayo made history by winning gold in the women's 5000m. The 30-year-old unleashed a spectacular final sprint to cross the finish line ahead of Samia Hassan of Djibouti and Zein Ayelgn of Ethiopia. The times from the final were still pending for confirmation. This victory gives Rwanda its first-ever gold medal, across all disciplines, at the African Athletics Championships.
Nigeria emerged as the biggest winners in the women’s discus throw at the African Athletics Championships in Accra, securing both silver and bronze, while Cameroon’s Nora Atim.
Competing in her first international outing for Nigeria, Divine Oladipo produced a best throw of 55.37m to take silver, ahead of compatriot Obiageri Amaechi, who earned bronze with 53.23m.
The gold, however, went to Monie, whose fourth-round effort of 57.00m secured Cameroon’s first-ever women’s discus title at the African Championships.
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