In Tuesday night's first final at the Aquatics Centre, American Allison Schmitt won the 200-meter freestyle with a dominating performance that left everyone else, including teammate Missy Franklin, battling for the other medals.
Schmitt clocked an Olympic-record 1 minute, 53.61 seconds, shaving more than a second off the mark set by Italy's Federica Pellegrini four years ago in Beijing.
''I was just racing,'' said Schmitt, who is quietly becoming one of the stars of the pool. ''I knew I had to kick it. I just look at that scoreboard and see 53 and first place. I couldn't be happier.''
France's Camille Muffat took silver in 1:55.58, almost a body length behind, while Bronte Barrett of Australia took the bronze over Franklin by a thousandth of a second. Barrett touched in 1:55.81. Franklin, who led after the first 50, was fourth in 1:55.82, while world-record holder Pellegrini was fifth.
Schmitt captured her first career gold medal, to go along with a silver in the 400 free and a bronze in the 4x100 free relay.
