Penny Oleksiak Captures Gold, Fourth Medal at Rio in Olympic Record-Setting Time

Canada's newest and youngest star continues to write one of the great stories at the Rio Olympics.

Penny Oleksiak, 16, turned in a triumphant performance in the women's 100-metre freestyle on Thursday night, securing her fourth podium visit with a gold-medal performance. Oleksiak, who has made international waves over the last week, stormed back from seventh place at the halfway turn with a stunning final 50 metres to tie American Simone Manuel and set a new Olympics record with a time of 52.70 seconds.

''I never thought I'd win a gold,'' she said. ''It means so much.''

It marked Canada's first gold medal at Rio, and made Oleksiak the first person born in the 2000s to win an individual event. Capturing her fourth medal at the Games—she won a silver in the 100-metre butterfly and two bronzes in a pair of relay events—Oleksiak set a Canadian record for most medals in a single Olympics by a swimmer. She is one medal shy of tying speedskater Cindy Klassen for the most medals ever by a Canadian in a single Olympics. Klassen won five at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Further, Oleksiak is the youngest Canadian to ever win gold and the first Canadian swimmer to capture first place since Mark Tewksbury in Barcelona in 1992.

While Oleksiak swam her way to history, so too did Manuel, who became the first black female swimmer to win a gold medal. In what was one of the best moments of the Games so far, the two young stars not only shared a moment, but their mothers embraced after the thrilling race as well.

Co gold medalist moms! — Swimming Canada (@SwimmingCanada)August 12, 2016

Oleksiak will be competing in the 4x100 metre medley relay, beginning Friday, with a chance to capture her fifth medal.

To learn more about her and what her closest friends think of their suddenly famous pal, check out our story from yesterday—we hung out with four of Oleksiak's friends and watched her make history Wednesday night.