BEIJING - AUSTRALIA'S Libby Trickett celebrated her first individual Olympic gold medal with victory in the women's 100 metres butterfly final in near world record time at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.

The 23-year-old world champion was under world record pace by 0.26sec at the 50m and hit the wall in 56.73 seconds, just 12-100ths of a second outside the world record.

Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn's world record of 56.61 is one of the oldest in the record book and has stood since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Trickett punched the water in frustration when she looked at the screen and saw that she had just missed out on breaking the eight-year world record, but then the realisation of her first Olympic gold medal sunk in.

'It's amazing, it's better than I would have expected', Trickett said.

'To get a personal best time, as well as an Olympic gold medal, it's way more than I could have ever dreamed'.

American Christine Magnusson split an Australian one-two in the final when she grabbed the silver medal in 57.10 with 200m butterfly world champion and world record holder Jessicah Schipper third in 57.25.

'I was really relieved. I thought I messed it up at the turn, so I was really excited', Magnusson said.

'It's been an amazing ride. This is what I've been wanting for my entire career'.

Schipper said a malfunction with her racing suit upset her before she went out on the pool deck.

'I was a little stressed before the race, my suit broke', Schipper said.

'I had to get changed into a new one in the marshall area, so I was a bit stressed before the race.

'I wanted to get better than I did in Athens and get an individual medal'.

Trickett left the 2004 Athens Olympics with a gold medal in the women's freestyle relay.

Trickett became the third Australian gold medalist in the event, following Lyn McClements (1968) and Petria Thomas from Athens.

She has the chance to win three more titles this week in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay.

It was Australia's second gold medal in the Beijing pool following Stephanie Rice's world record-breaking 400m individual medley final. -- AFP