In the punishing, low-30s heat of the Senegalese capital, Markgraaff dug deep at the open-air Dakar Aquatic Centre. She set a blistering early pace to front-run the first two laps before pacing herself into third spot at the halfway mark in 21:10.21. Demonstrating immense composure, she struck after 250 meters, powering past Simona Ivanova of Bulgaria into silver position. Markgraaff never looked back, touching the wall in 4:26.13 to seal second place behind Ecuador’s Elvira Espinosa (4:22.87).
“I do not think it has quite sunk in yet, but I think it is quite a good achievement and I am very happy about it,” Markgraaff said. “I really focused on getting out ahead early to get a good feel for the water. I enjoy getting out quickly to get ahead and settle into the race.”
Markgraaff previously had success at the 2025 Africa Youth Games in Luanda, where she won three gold medals.
“All of this is quite new to me,” she admitted.
“I have only competed in Africa before against African athletes, so the other nations are all new to me. There is certainly a level up in standard, and it is amazing to compete against them. The conditions here are quite similar to Angola in terms of the water temperature, so I believe that experience in Luanda gave me much-needed experience in these conditions.”
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