The 27-year-old, whose older sister Arianna won silver at June's European Games in Baku, had finished fourth after losing a three-way shootout for silver and bronze at London 2012.

She also finished fourth at last year's World Cup Final in Gabala, Azerbaijan.

But on this occasion she held her nerve, taking an early lead against Slovakia’s Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova in the final before maintaining a narrow advantage for a 13-11 win.

It is a huge result for San Marino, the tiny European Republic which boasts a population of just 32,000.

Perilli, who carried her national flag at the Opening Ceremony of London 2012, described it as "absolutely" the best moment of her career so far.

"I had a lot of 4th places, but now I made it," she said.

"I’m so happy!

“During the last three months I always got good scores while I was training, but in competitions my head was not there.

“In the last month we changed the stock and revolutionized everything, I trained a lot with my coach Luca and now I can’t believe it!”

Silver medallist Stefecekova had survived a shoot-off against Spain's Fatima Galvez to reach the final, with Galvez recovering to beat Australia's Laetisha Scanlan in a tie-breaker after a 12-12 draw in the bronze medal match. 

Action will continue tomorrow with a final day of competition in the Cypriot capital, with the men's trap event taking place. 

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