A 12-year-old girl has won the most prestigious US spelling bee with a series off incredible words.
Ananya Vinay from Fresno in California spelled the word "marocain" – meaning a type of dress fabric – to defeat Rohan Rajeev and win the competition.
As each competitor waited for their opponent to slip up, the rivals had spelt words including cheiropompholyx, durchkomponiert and tchefuncte.
But Rohan, from Oklahoma, misspelt the word marram and left Ananya to go on to spell two words correctly before claiming the championship on Thursday.
She barely cracked a smile even when her parents and younger brother stormed onto the stage to embrace her after she secured victory.
"It's like a dream come true," Ananya said. "I'm so happy right now."
She will take home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
It was the first time since 2013 that the Scripps National Spelling Bee declared a sole champion.
After three straight years of ties, the bee added a tiebreaker test this year, and it looked like it might come into play as Ananya and Rohan duelled for nearly 20 rounds.
Read More
MORE ABOUT