LONDON, August 3: American Rebecca Soni broke the women’s 200m breaststroke world record for the second time in two days on Thursday as she won Olympic gold for the second straight Games.

Using her trademark late kick, Soni won gold in 2min 19.59sec, improving the record of 2:20.00 she posted in the semifinals on Wednesday.

She became the first Beijing swimming gold medalist to successfully defend a title in London.

“I wasn’t trying to focus on records or medals or anything, I just wanted to swim one more race the way I knew I could,” Soni said.

“It has been my goal since I was a little girl to swim under 2.20, my coach told me I could be the first woman to do swim 2.19 and I have been chasing it ever since and I am just so happy.

Japan’s Satomi Suzuki took silver and Russian Yuliyia Efimova earned bronze. AFP