FIFTEEN-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte edged out American world champion Rebecca Soni for the gold medal in an exciting Olympic Games 100m breaststroke final Monday.

Meilutyte led all the way to post a brilliant win over Soni in one minute 05.47 seconds, prevailing by just eight-hundredths of a second.

The schoolgirl became the first to win a swimming gold medal for Lithuania, which was once part of the Soviet Union.

Meilutyte, who used her early speed off the blocks, held onto her lead despite Soni’s desperate finishing lunge at the wall.

Japan’s Satomi Suzuki was third.

Meilutyte, coached in England at Plymouth College, arrived at the Games with a best time of 1:07.20 and bettered it by 1.73 seconds to become Olympic champion.

“I knew it was going to come down to the last five meters and I wish I had five more meters, but it was a good race overall,” said Soni.

The start of the final was delayed by a technical malfunction forcing American Breeja Larson prematurely into the water.

“The start was definitely interesting, we were all put off in the same way, I felt sorry for Breeja, who actually jumped in the water,” she said. “It is what it is.”

Larson at first feared she would be disqualified for a false start. “I was worried about a DQ (disqualification) at first, I went into the water and my heart sank,” she said. “I got ready for my mark and it was just the swimmer’s reaction to go.”

Australia’s triple Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Leisel Jones could not meet the pace and finished fifth.(SD-Agencies)