Marina Hadjicosta won Cyprus’s first gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games on Sunday, taking the discus title in Dakar, Senegal, with a throw of 53.20 metres. Tunisia’s Katr Jaoued took silver with Kendra Duany Neira of Mexico picking up bronze.

Until now, Cyprus’s only medals at the Games, which are in their fourth edition, were two silvers: Alexandros Poursanidis in the hammer in Singapore in 2010 and Paraskevi Andreou in the 100 metres in Nanjing in 2014.

The 17-year-old, who is coached by Konstantinos Stavrou, competed in temperatures that reached 35 degrees Celsius. She opened with 48.17 metres, which put her third, and then had three invalid throws before producing the winning distance with her fifth attempt.

The gold adds to the European U18 title and World U20 bronze she won earlier.