[1][2] U.S. swimmer Lilly King stormed home on the final lap in a match against Russia's Yuliya Yefimova to capture the sprint breaststroke title for the first time since Megan Quann topped the podium in 2000.

With 15 metres to go, King launched a mighty surge to pass Yefimova by more than half a second for the gold medal with a time of 1:04.93.

King's time also shaved 0.24 seconds off the Olympic record set by Australia's four-time Olympian Leisel Jones in Beijing in 2008.

[7] China's Shi Jinglin delivered a time of 1:06.37 to pick up the fourth spot, just ahead of Canada's Rachel Nicol (1:06.68) by about three tenths of a second.

Iceland's Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir placed sixth in 1:07.18, while Lithuania's world-record holder and defending champion Rūta Meilutytė could not reproduce her effort from London 2012 with a seventh-place time in 1:07.32.