Maria Saadi won the silver medal in the women’s long jump final at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on November 9. Representing Morocco, she produced a best mark of 5.89 metres. That performance placed her second in a competition whose outcome remained undecided until the eventual champion’s last attempt, giving the Moroccan athlete a place on the podium after she had led for much of the final.
Gold went to Italy’s Poko Silvia Canape, who won with 5.92 metres, while Austria’s Deborah Achleitner secured bronze with a mark of 5.72 metres. Only three centimetres separated Saadi from first place. That narrow margin provides the clearest measure of the Moroccan performance in a closely contested final, with the leading positions ultimately determined during the concluding stage of the competition.
A final transformed on the last attempt
Saadi recorded her best mark in the second round, reaching 5.89 metres and moving into the provisional lead. She therefore established the distance that the rest of the field had to surpass during the remaining rounds. The order at the top stayed open until the final series, making the sequence of attempts central to understanding how a performance that had put Morocco in first position eventually resulted in a silver medal.
Canape moved ahead on her sixth and final attempt by jumping 5.92 metres, taking gold by three centimetres over Saadi. Achleitner also produced her medal-winning distance in the sixth round, reaching 5.72 metres to claim bronze. Both decisive late marks came in the closing phase of the final. Saadi’s 5.89-metre effort nevertheless remained enough for second place and Morocco’s place on the women’s long jump podium.
Nine athletes listed for the final
The final was scheduled for November 9 at 14:41 in Dakar, with nine athletes from nine countries appearing on the official World Athletics start list. Saadi was listed under bib number 215. These details define the formal setting of the event and show that the Moroccan medal was earned in an international final in which every listed competitor represented a different country.
The same official start list displayed 6.56 metres as Saadi’s pre-event personal best and season best. That figure should be understood specifically as the information shown on the Dakar entry document, without adding any further technical description. Her decisive result in the competition itself was 5.89 metres, the mark that secured silver behind Canape’s winning distance of 5.92 metres and ahead of Achleitner’s 5.72 metres.
A profile spanning sprinting and long jump
World Athletics records Maria Saadi’s date of birth as December 6, 2010, and identifies her as a Moroccan athlete competing in sprinting and long jump. Her Dakar result can therefore be viewed within a profile that covers more than one athletics discipline. The verified record places her silver medal alongside activity both on the sprint track and in the long jump, rather than presenting her development through a single event alone.
On February 21, 2026, Saadi set a Moroccan national indoor record of 7.48 seconds over 60 metres in Val-de-Reuil. That verified sprint achievement provides another marker from the same year as her Dakar long jump medal. Without treating the two events as identical, the results show that she has already delivered notable performances for Morocco in short sprinting as well as in the discipline that brought her onto the Youth Olympic podium.
Earlier success at African youth level
Saadi’s recent record also includes the African Youth Games held in Angola in December 2025. She won long jump gold for Morocco at that competition. The continental title provides a verified reference point before her silver medal in Dakar, linking the Youth Olympic result to an earlier victory in the same discipline. Her second place in 2026 thus followed an established youth-level success rather than standing as an isolated long jump result.
At the same African Youth Games, Saadi also earned the bronze medal in the 100 metres. Combined with her long jump gold, that result already reflected her participation across two types of athletics event. In Dakar, long jump again produced a medal for the Moroccan athlete, this time after a tight final in which she led from the second round before Canape’s last-attempt jump changed the order at the top.
Dakar 2026 marks an African first
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games run from October 31 through November 13 across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly. About 2,700 athletes are taking part across 25 sports. Saadi’s medal belongs within that wider multi-sport programme and was won while the Games were still continuing. For that reason, her confirmed individual result should be kept separate from any final assessment of Morocco’s overall medal total at the event.
Dakar 2026 is the first Olympic sporting event staged on African soil. Within that historic setting, Maria Saadi delivered a clearly verified result for Morocco: women’s long jump silver with 5.89 metres after taking the provisional lead in the second round. Since medal totals can change as later events are completed, the secure conclusion is her individual achievement and the three-centimetre margin that separated her from the gold medal.
