LONDON - American Rebecca Soni broke the women's 200m breaststroke record for the second time in two days Thursday as she won Olympic gold for the second straight Games.

Using her trademark late kick, Soni won gold in 2min 19.59sec, improving the record of 2:20.00 she posted in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

She became the first Beijing swimming gold medallist to successfully defend a title in London.

Japan's Satomi Suzuki took silver and Russian Yuliyia Efimova earned bronze. (AFP)