LONDON, August 3: Dutch flyer Ranomi Kromowidjojo led from the blocks to win the women’s 100m freestyle swimming gold medal on Thursday.

The Netherlands’ newest Olympic swimming star went into the Olympic final as the fastest woman in the world this year and confirmed her ranking with victory in the pressure of a Games final.

The 21-year-old covered the first 50m in 27.24secs before hitting the wall in an Olympic record of exactly 53sec to land her country’s second gold in the event in the last 12 years.

Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus claimed the silver medal in 53.38sec with China’s Tang Yi getting the bronze in 53.44.

Kromowidjojo, whose father is from Surinam and paternal grandparents from Indonesia, was a member of the Dutch team that won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in Beijing.

Kromowidjojo now joins a long list of Dutch Olympic swimming stars, including Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn.

De Bruijn was the last Dutchwoman to win the Olympic 100m freestyle title, in Sydney in 2000. AFP