Kenya’s Rising Lionesses clinched gold after defeating Australia 17–12,in the final of the women’s rugby sevens at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

The Kenyan youngsters were resilient on Tuesday evening at the Stade Iba Mar Diop in Dakar to overcome an Australian side that had beaten them 17–5 earlier in the group stage.

The gold-medal match was fiercely contested, with Australia opening the scoring before Kenya responded through captain Zain Hido to head into the break level at 5–5.

Australia regained the advantage after the break, moving ahead 12–5 with a converted try.

Josephine Kerubo crossed the try line for Kenya’s second try, with Diana Wanjiku adding the conversion as the match ended in a 12–12 stalemate, forcing extra time to break the deadlock.

Determined Kenyan girls scored the sudden-death try to secure the country’s first gold at the 4th edition of the games being staged on African soil for the first time in history.

The Rising Lionesses opened their campaign with a 12–5 victory over China before registering an emphatic 19–0 win against hosts Senegal.

Despite suffering a 17–5 defeat against Australia in their final pool encounter, the Kenyans recovered strongly to defeat Madagascar 15–5 in the semi-finals.