Australian Dutton wins first gold at Nanjing Youth Oympics

Australia's Brittany Dutton crosses the finish line during the women's triathlon final at the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) held at the Xuanwu Lake Triathlon Venue in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, August 17, 2014.  [Photo/Xinhua]

NANJING, China - Brittany Dutton of Australia took the first gold medal of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games by winning the women's triathlon here Sunday morning.

Dutton scored her winning timing of 59 minutes and 56 seconds as she placed eighth in the 0.75km swim at 10:21, ranked first in 20km bike at 31:00, and completed the 5km run first at 17:25.

"Throughout the bike I could see that I could probably pull out and I tried it and got away," Dutton said. "I decided to hold my lead and it worked."

Stephanie Jenks of the United States took the silver in 1:00:33,

Emilie Morier of France placed third in 1:00:55, and Germany's Kristin Ranwig fourth.

"I had confidence in myself that I could do well. It's so great.

It's a great birthday present too," said Jenks who celebrated turning 17 on Sunday.

"I'm so happy. It's a very good race for me, so its's perfect. I'm exploding inside," said Morier.

Dutton was 30 seconds in front of the chase group after the bike leg, and increased that lead slightly in the run to finish the race at the Xuanwu Lake Triathlon Venue.

It was an impressive performance from Dutton to hold off run specialist Jenks, who finished 37 seconds back for the silver on her 17th birthday.

Dutton went into the lead on the final corner of the second bike lap, pushing ahead of Minami Kubono of Japan.

The Australian held on to that lead for the remainder of the race, and finished the cycle stage around 30 seconds ahead of the chase group of 11 riders.

"I have a strong cycling background, so I thought I'd give it a go. There's nothing to lose and I stay away (from the pack)," she said.

Earlier, the Japanese triathlete was first out of the water in the swim leg, completing it in 10 minutes and five seconds.

She nearly got tangled in the course rope as she began her exit,

but still managed to get on to the bike in first place.

But she was followed just a couple of seconds later by Emily Wagner of Canada, Katherine Vanesa Clemant Materano of Venezuela and Jessica Romero Tinoco of Mexico.

The Games, running till Aug. 28, features 222 events in 28 sports for more than 3,700 athletes aged between 15 and 18 across the world.