United States gymnast Simone Biles has won her third gold medal of the Rio Olympic Games.

The 19-year-old only missed out on a place at London 2012 due to being three months too young, but she was widely expected to dominate the competition in Rio and took one step closer to Olympic immortality this evening.

The American is bidding to become the first gymnast to win five golds at a single Games, and success in the vault today saw her complete the third leg of that goal.

Biles averaged 15.966 from her two vaults, comfortably beating Russia's Maria Paseka and Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber, who claimed silver and bronze respectively.

Biles has already won gold in the all-around and team competitions, and will look to complete the famous quintet on the beam and the floor.