Tu Chinh finished first in the 200m race, surpassing the gold medal performance of the 28th SEA Games.

Le Tu Chinh continued to affirm her position as the new queen of Vietnamese athletics with a gold medal in the 200m race in Thailand yesterday, June 14th.

In yesterday's women's 200m final, Tu Chinh finished first with a time of 23.52 seconds, 0.22 seconds faster than the runner-up, a Singaporean athlete.

This milestone not only helped her win another gold medal at the 2017 Thailand Open Athletics Championships, but also created great hopes for Vietnamese athletics as it heads towards the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia this August.

Tu Chinh (center) is recreating the image of her senior teammate Vu Thi Huong on short-distance running tracks. Photo: Nguyen Phuong.

Compared to the gold medalist in the women's 200m at the 2015 SEA Games (23.60 seconds), Tu Chinh was 0.08 seconds faster. At the 2013 SEA Games, her senior teammate Vu Thi Huong won the gold medal in the 200m with a time of 23.55 seconds.

Previously, in the 100m event where she won the gold medal, Tu Chinh's time of 11.47 seconds also far surpassed the 11.76 seconds that helped Filipino athlete Kayla Richardson win the gold medal at the 2015 SEA Games.

In the two previous SEA Games, the gold medal winning time in the women's 100m was also far inferior to Tu Chinh's performance at this year's competition in Thailand. Vu Thi Huong only achieved 11.59 seconds in 2013, while Unani achieved 11.60 seconds in 2011.

Alongside Tú Chinh, athlete Nguyễn Hoài Văn won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw, simultaneously breaking the Vietnamese national record with a performance of 72.26m. The previous record was set by athlete Nguyễn Trường Giang at the 2011 SEA Games with 69.07m.

Meanwhile, Do Quoc Luat also won the gold medal in the men's 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9 minutes 12 seconds 89. In the women's 400m hurdles, athlete Nguyen Thi Hang won the silver medal with a time of 55 seconds 31.

On the final day of competition today, June 15th, Vietnamese athletics is hoping for success from Tu Chinh and her teammates in the women's 4x100m relay.

According to VNE