American Gabby Thomas stormed to a brilliant victory in the women's Olympic 200m in Paris on Tuesday to clinch the first major title of her career.
Thomas clocked 21.83 seconds to win ahead of St. Lucia's newly-minuted Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred, who timed 22.08 seconds.
Thomas' USA teammate Brittany Brown claimed bronze in 22.20seconds.
Thomas, 27, a bronze medallist at the Tokyo Games three years ago, is the first American woman to win an Olympic short sprint title since childhood idol Allyson Felix won the 200m at the 2012 London Games.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," Thomas told reporters after her win.
"It's indescribable, I'm so excited. If I didn't get this gold medal today I don't know what I would have done.
"I'm really in disbelief because having an Olympic gold medal is something in my wildest dreams. But at the same time I know how hard I've fought for it.
"This has been six years in the making, head down, working hard, going to really hard meets, pushing yourself, and now it's here and I've done it. This is the happiest moment of my life."
St. Lucia's Alfred had been hoping to clinch an Olympic sprint double after her dazzling win in the 100m on Saturday, extending the dominance of Caribbean sprinters in the event.
But Thomas, the fastest woman in the world this year over 200m, was in no mood to let her date with destiny slip.
The Harvard-educated sprinter exploded out of the blocks and ran a superb bend to open up a sizeable lead coming into the home straight.
The American's strength and finishing power never looked like waning as she powered over the line to claim a deserved gold.
Trew wins park gold in skateboard
Australian teenage skateboarding sensation Arisa Trew won Olympic gold in the women's park event on Tuesday, edging out Japan's Cocona Hiraki in silver and Britain's injured Sky Brown in bronze.
The 14-year-old Trew, in her trademark pink helmet, nailed a high-risk and high-speed final round to leap to the top of the rankings, bringing the crowd to their feet at a sun-drenched Place de la Concorde stadium.
Hiraki, who won a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when the event was first introduced, delivered two typically smooth and high-scoring runs but was eclipsed by Trew's spectacular last routine.
Brown, also a bronze medallist in Tokyo, made the podium again in the same position despite dislocating her shoulder less than a fortnight ago and performing with heavy strapping.
Trew, a big-ramp specialist, has pushed the frontiers of women's skateboarding in her short career.
She was the first to land a 720 in competition -- two mid-air rotations -- and then a 900 -- two and a half rotations -- in May this year.
She had said before the Games that spectators should look out for her less risky 540s, which she landed effortlessly in her final round.
