China's Lin Yilei won the men's changquan combined final at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 3 November, claiming the first wushu gold medal ever awarded at an Olympic event. The other three wushu finals are also scheduled on the same day.

Wushu has its first Olympic champion. China's Lin Yilei won the men's changquan combined final at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday, 3 November, at the Dakar Expo Center (DEX) in Diamniadio. Xinhua, reporting from the venue, described it as the first wushu gold medal in the history of Olympic events.

The result caps a dominant three days for the Chinese teenager. Lin, who carried China's flag at the opening ceremony on 31 October, ranked first after his changquan routine on the opening day of competition and was again first after the gunshu (staff) routine on 2 November, taking the top spot into the eight-man final.

Video: Olympics / YouTube

A historic first for the sport

Dakar 2026 is the first time wushu has been part of the official medal programme at an Olympic event. At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing it appeared only as a separate tournament outside the medal count. According to the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), 47 athletes from 46 countries and regions are competing in Senegal across four events: men's and women's changquan combined and men's and women's taijiquan combined. Each athlete performed two routines over two days, and the eight best combined scores in each event went through to Tuesday's finals.

For China, which has led the sport's push into the Olympic movement for decades, Lin's gold is also a symbolic win. The IWUF called wushu's Youth Olympic debut the result of decades of joint work by the global wushu community and a new starting point for the sport's international growth.

More medals on finals day

The women's changquan, men's taijiquan and women's taijiquan finals are also scheduled in Dakar on 3 November, with the women's taijiquan routine closing the programme in the late afternoon. The full podium and scores for the men's changquan final, including the silver and bronze medallists, had not yet been published by the organisers at the time of writing. EUWUSHU.TV will report all four sets of medals once the official results are confirmed.

Sources: Xinhua, IWUF. Photo: IWUF / IOC

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