Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela has set a world record with her final attempt on Sunday night to win the women's triple jump gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Rojas already had the victory assured when she took the last of her six attempts, finishing with a mark of 15.67m to break the previous record of 15.50m set in 1995 by Inessa Kravets of Ukraine.

The win made Rojas Venezuela's first female Olympic champion.

"I was looking for it, I knew we had that distance in my legs to get it today. I was failing a bit in the technical aspect but the last jump was one to give everything, and it was like that," she said.

"I focused on giving my best, enjoying, and it came out."

The two-time world champion, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games, broke the Olympic record of 15.39 with her first attempt in the final.

Patricia Mamona of Portugal took silver with a national record of 15.01m while Spain's Ana Peleteiro claimed bronze with a national record of 14.87m.