Thane hurdler Shourya Ambure wins India’s first women’s track medal at Youth Olympics

Shourya Ambure, a 17-year-old hurdler from Thane, won the bronze medal in the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, on 8 November. No Indian woman had won a track medal at the Youth Olympics before.

She ran 13.59 seconds in the final, her best time yet. Before the Games, her best time listed by World Athletics was 13.86 seconds.

The race

Zhang Keyi of China won gold in 13.17 seconds, and Anna Peeters of France took silver in 13.57. Ms. Ambure finished just 0.02 seconds behind Ms. Peeters and ahead of Fiona Schwarz of Austria, who ran 13.76.

In her semi-final, Ms. Ambure came second in her semi-final in 13.77 seconds to reach the final.

The comeback

Dakar was her first international race since surgery on a torn ligament in her left knee. Early this year, she spent a month on crutches and could not walk, the Hindustan Times reported.

“We had sleepless nights for the past eight months,” her coach, Ajit Kulkarni, told the paper. He said the two had been working towards these Games since 2022.

Ms. Ambure had kept a picture of the Youth Olympics on her bedroom wall and as her phone’s wallpaper, she told the Hindustan Times before leaving for Senegal.

Her record

She won bronze at the 2025 Asian Under-18 Athletics Championships and two silver medals at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

The Youth Olympic Games are for athletes aged 15 to 18. The Dakar Games are the first Olympic event held in Africa.