Huyền wins gold at national athletics champs

HÀ NỘI  Former Southeast Asian (SEA) Games champion Nguyễn Thị Huyền won her second gold medal at the National Athletics Championship at the Thống Nhất Stadium in HCM City yesterday.

The northern province of Nam Định-born athlete triumphed in the women’s  四00m hurdles in a time of  五 八. 二 五sec.

Nguyễn Thị Oanh of Hà Nội and Phan Võ Như Ý of Khánh Hòa were the runners-up.

Notably, Huyền has returned to competition after two years of absence to give birth.

Earlier, Huyền reaffirmed her spot as a top regional runner when she won gold medal in the women’s  四00m in a time of  五 三. 八 六sec.

“I am very happy to compete again. Through this event I hope to be selected for the SEA Games in the Philippines later this year,” Huyền said.

At the  二0 一 五 SEA Games, Huyền won the  四00m,  四00m hurdles, and  四× 四00 m relay and set games records in the latter two events. Her results at the event gave her two individual qualifying times for the  二0 一 五 World Championships in Athletics and the  二0 一 六 Olympics.

At the  二0 一 七 SEA Games, Huyền also bagged gold medals in the  四00m,  四00m hurdles and  四× 四00m relay.

In the men’s  四00m hurdles, Quách Công Lịch of Thanh Hóa seized gold after clocking a time of  五0. 七 一sec. However, Lịch couldn't beat his own national record of  五0.0 五sec set two years ago at the SEA Games in Malaysia.

With  五 一. 二0sec, Hanoian Phan Khắc Hoàng was second, while Nguyễn Tuấn Vũ of Thanh Hóa finished third with a time of  五 二. 五 三sec.

In the women’s  八00m, Khuất Phương Anh of Hà Nội beat Đinh Thị Bích and Bùi Thị Ngân of Nam Định to take the title. While on the men’s side, Dương Văn Thái of Nam Định took gold medal with a time of  一: 五 一. 七 四.

In the women’s pole jump, Trương Thị Thu of Thanh Hóa won with a result of  三. 七0m, followed by Nguyễn Phạm Hoài Yên of Đà Nẵng and Phạm Thị Kiều Oanh of Hà Nội.

In the men’s  二0,000m walking, Nguyễn Thành Ngưng of Đà Nẵng defeated his tea妹妹ate Võ Xuân Vĩnh and Phùng Kim Quang of Hà Nội to win gold with a time of  一: 三 六.0 八.

Ngưng’s best result in this category is  一: 二 三. 二 九 which he set in an event in Japan three years ago.

The annual event, which is a warm-up for Vietnamese athletes to prepare for the SEA Games, will conclude on Thursday. VNS