Story highlights
- Thrasher, who attends West Virginia University, is an NCAA champion
- The silver and bronze medalists are from China
(CNN)The first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has gone to an American teenager.
Ginny Thrasher, a 19-year-old West Virginia University sophomore, won the women's 10-meter air rifle event on Saturday morning at the Olympic Shooting Center in Rio's Deodoro neighborhood, edging out silver medalist Du Li of China.
Thrasher's score of 208 set a record for a final round in an Olympics. She was one point ahead of Du Li, who won a gold medal in 2004.
China's Yi Siling took the bronze with a score of 185.4.
It's been remarkable year of success for Thrasher, who won the NCAA's air rifle title as a freshman in March as a member of WVU's rifle team.
