Athing Mu, a 19-year-old track and field athlete clinched the gold medal on Tuesday during the women’s 800m, clocking in at one minute, 55.21 seconds. Her time is the fastest an American has ever finished the race and the fifth-best time in Olympic history, according to Yahoo Entertainment. 

“It’s awesome. I feel like I’ve just accomplished one of my goals,” the New Jersey native said, Olympics.com reported. “I just wanted to be a medallist. I wasn’t really putting gold on that, but as it got closer to the final today, I was like, ‘Yeah, we want gold.'”

ATHING MU TAKES THE GOLD! 🥇

She is the first American woman to win the 800m since the 1968 Mexico City Games. #TokyoOlympics
pic.twitter.com/WmJq2dYulr

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2021

“I wasn’t thinking about pace, I wasn’t thinking about how the race is going to go,” she added.“I knew I was ready, I knew I was relaxed, confident so I just wanted to keep that going into the start of the race.”

The last time an American woman placed first in the event was in 1968 during the Mexico City Games.

“Coming into the race I was just at peace. I wasn’t too anxious about it. You know I knew I wanted to get the gold medal and I just told myself I’m going to do all I have to do to get there,” Mu said.