Nguyen Thi Huyen holds the SEA Games track and field gold medal record

With the victory in the women's 400m hurdles on the afternoon of May 11, Nguyen Thi Huyen owns a total of 12 gold medals in athletics - the most in SEA Games history.

This result also helped Huyen surpass the old record of 11 SEA Games athletics gold medals of Indonesian athlete Triyaningsih.

Her 12 SEA Games gold medals came during the 2015-2023 period. Even more impressive, Huyen has always won two or more gold medals in the last five SEA Games, despite having a child in 2018. Thanks to Huyen's contributions, Vietnam has topped the overall team in athletics in the last three SEA Games.

Nguyen Thi Huyen (right) won the gold medal despite being led by her Philippine opponent (left) for most of the race. Photo: Duc Dong

The final of the women's 400m hurdles yesterday saw a dramatic sprint between Nguyen Thi Huyen and Robin Lauren Brown. The naturalized Filipino athlete led through all the hurdles, but was overtaken by Huyen in the sprint. The Vietnamese runner finished with a time of 56.29 seconds. Robin Lauren Brown received the silver medal, while Nguyen Thi Ngoc won the bronze medal.

"My Filipino opponent ran very well, clearing the hurdles a bit ahead of me," Huyen shared after finishing. "At the ninth hurdle, she still cleared me. I was scared at times, but I still had to stay calm and try to push forward to sprint."

This is the second consecutive SEA Games that Huyen has won against Brown, and also the fifth consecutive time the athlete born in 1993 has won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the Games.

This victory also helped Huyen forget the defeat in the women's 400m event two days earlier. The athlete from Nam Dinh was the champion in the previous four SEA Games, but was placed in lane 7 - an unfavorable lane, resulting in an unsatisfactory result and receiving a silver medal. That was the only event Huyen missed out on a gold medal in after three events she participated in at the 32nd SEA Games.

After winning two gold medals in the mixed 4x400m relay and 400m hurdles, Nguyen Thi Huyen still has a chance to increase her number of gold medals at the 32nd SEA Games when she competes in the women's 4x400m team relay at 5pm on May 12 - the final day of athletics.

Thailand is leading the SEA Games 32 athletics medal table, with 13 gold medals. Vietnam has 10 gold medals, while Indonesia is third with seven gold medals.

Vnexpress.net