Anh Vien missed the ticket to the 2016 Olympic finals by a hair's breadth.
Vietnam's number one swimmer broke his personal record and won the third heat of the women's 400m individual medley qualifying round.
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Anh Vien on the swimming track in Rio. Photo: Reuters. |
Anh Vien, competing in the third round with seven other athletes, finished with a time of4 minutes 36 seconds 85 - her best ever result in this event. The old record ofAnh Vien's time was 4 minutes 38 seconds 78 at the 2015 World Championship in Kazan (Russia).
However, the Vietnamese swimmer's efforts were still not enough to make it into the Top 8. The last person in the group to advance was Emily Overholt with a time of 4 minutes 36 seconds 54 - only 0.31 seconds better than Anh Vien.
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The order of the eight athletes competing in the third heat of the women's 400m individual medley qualifying round. Screenshot. |
As the youngest athlete, and having to compete in the unfavorable lane 2, Anh Vien still entered the race very well. Right from the first meters, she took the lead after 50m in the butterfly competition.
After finishing 100m, she was knocked out of the Top 3.However, in the backstroke, Anh Vien regained the first position and after 200m, she was 1.50 seconds ahead of her second-place opponent. In the breaststroke, which was her weak point, the swimmer from Can Tho dropped to third place. But in the last 100m of freestyle, Anh Vien jumped up like a killer whale and finished first, 1.21 seconds ahead of second-place Sydney Pickrem.
The Vietnamese swimmer finished 9th in the qualifying round.
Among the 23 Vietnamese athletes participating in this year's tournament, Anh Vien is the most famous athlete thanks to her achievements of winning 8 gold medals and breaking 8 records at the 2015 SEA Games. However, the chance for this swimmer to win a medal in Brazil is not much. Anh Vien said her realistic goal is to reach the final swimming series.
At the 2016 Olympics, Anh Vien also participated in the 200m medley, 200m and 400m freestyle.
According to VNE
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