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I would like to avoid using the phrase "untied first" unless that is actually the accepted way to say it.

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I think most would assume that "first place" means an untied first unless the context has introduced it as a question. I have heard "undisputed first place" for emphasis instead of clarification. –  jboneca Apr 1 at 23:55
What @jboneca said. If you came first, you beat everyone else. If there was a tie, you'd come joint first. –  FumbleFingers Apr 2 at 0:09
Agreed with the previous two comments -- if you 'came in first' you came in first without tying. If you tied with someone else, you "tied for first." –  Jeremy Apr 2 at 0:15
The competition is graded by score -- total amount of questions right over questions given. In this case, it is 30/30. However, it is reasonable to think that other people also got that score, but in this case that was not true. Is the assumption still that I was not tied for first? –  Michael T Apr 2 at 0:20

5 Answers 5

In sports news they call it having sole possession of first place.

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This is what I would use and I hear it often. –  RyeɃreḁd Apr 2 at 2:44
This would be correct, but I'd only use it cases where you have reason to believe the reader could think you were tied for first - the default usage is for "first place" to imply sole and require a modifier ("tied for first place") if that's not the case. –  schodge Apr 2 at 4:51

Unequivocal winner. She was the unequivocal winner. She won unequivocally.

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To avoid any risk of confusion, you might say "I scored first overall" or "I scored the highest number of points in the competition."

And congratulations!

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If you really care, just say that you got more points than anyone else. End of story.

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In practice, first place is just called first place. If you'd shared the position, it'd be joint first place. So you don't normally need to explicitly state that you were the only person who earned first place. It's assumed.

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