Olympic Medals 2016: Tracking Winners and Final Tally for Saturday Results

The United States claimed the first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Saturday after Virginia Thrasher triumphed in the final of the women’s 10-metre air rifle. Chinese duo Du Li and Yi Siling took silver and bronze, respectively.

Day One of the 2016 Games saw Thrasher complete an almighty battle against the odds to emerge with the first gold of the tournament, having come into the contest as a steep underdog.

Elsewhere, Tour de France champion Chris Froome will attempt to bring Great Britain their first gold of the Games as he challenges for top spot in the men's road race.

Read on for a breakdown of where the first medals to be awarded in Rio have gone, complete with discussion of the biggest storylines emerging.

Thrasher Fires United States to Gold

Thrasher shocked the shooting elite with a gold medal triumph at the National Shooting Center in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, despite a strong challenge from two of China's top contenders.

Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Sarah Scherer of the United States was the first contender to be eliminated from the running, followed shortly by Croatia's Snjezana Pejcic and Elaheh Ahmadi of Iran, who clinched sixth place for the second Games in a row.

Scherer may well have been saddened to finish in eighth spot, but her run to the 10-metre rifle final was a triumph of its own, as evidenced by the official USA Shooting Twitter account:

Russia's Daria Vdovina was next to be eliminated, and German Barbara Engleder's exit in fourth place meant Europe's representatives were finished, with only Chinese pair Li and Siling left alongside American Thrasher.

Siling won the gold medal at London 2012, and although she was unable to defend that crown four years on, she did have the honour of being the first medalist in Rio, per CNN reporter Digvijay Singh Deo:

Thrasher had built up a point cushion of 0.7 for the final showdown, and with two final shots worth 10.5 and 10.4, the world-ranked No. 23 did enough to complete her fairytale run.

China, on the other hand, once again took two of the three podium places in this event, just as they did in London four years ago, except this time it was the United States who clinched the gold.