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Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the 100-meter hurdles on Monday in Japan, securing the U.S. territory not only its first gold medal of the Tokyo Games but its second in history. Camacho-Quinn, 24, won with a time of 12.37 seconds, shy of her Olympic record of 12.26 seconds set a day earlier.
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It was a tight race at the Olympic Stadium that Camacho-Quinn led throughout but she pulled away from the pack after the sixth barrier, leaving the other runners to settle for photo finishes.
Athletes representing Puerto Rico at the Olympics have won a total of 10 medals since first participating in the Games in 1948, the majority of which were in boxing.
Its only other gold came in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro when Monica Puig defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany in women's singles tennis.
"We have gold!" Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi tweeted in celebration on Monday. "Today, our [Jasmine Camacho-Quinn] put Puerto Rico on high! Thank you for uniting a people, for giving us this joy, filling us with pride and representing Puerto Rican women to the world!"
Picking up the silver was Team USA's Kendra Harrison, 28, who finished fractions of a second faster than Megan Tapper, 27, of Jamaica who secured bronze.
Harrison was among the favorites to medal as she set the world record of 12.20 seconds in London in 2016.
American Gabriele Cunningham, 23, finished seventh with a time of 13.01 seconds.
In the long jump, American Juvaughn Harrison, 22, finished fifth with a distance of 8.15 meters after six attempts.
Harrison was in bronze medal contention after his fifth and farthest jump of the day but was knocked out during the final round that saw Miltiadis Tentoglou, 23, of Greece secure gold, pushing down Cuba's Juan Miguel Echevarria and Maykel Masso to silver and bronze, respectively, despite the pair leading for much of the heat.
Echevarria, 22, had also scored 8.41 meters but his 8.09 meters, his second best of the day, was shorter than Tentoglou's second farthest jump of 8.15 meters.
Confusion set in after the sixth round of jumps as Tentoglou was unsure if he had won gold with his coaches in the stands yelling to him that he had.
Tentoglou's win came in a heat that saw many disappointments and injuries.
Echevarria seemed to have injured himself in his fourth attempt, which he came away from limping. He passed his fifth jump and faulted on his sixth.
Masso's 8.21 meters was made on his first attempt but after his second jump, he passed on the remaining four attempts.
Jamaica's Taja Gayle, 25, who failed to advance among the final eight, performed under expectations after having injured his left knee during qualifiers.
