Red eyes looking for Vietnam's speed queen of athletics

It can be said that Vu Thi Huong is still considered the best short-distance runner of Vietnamese athletics ever. Although she has retired for a long time, her national record in the 100m distance with the parameter of 11 seconds 33 has not been broken.

Following the success of her seniors in the short distance, considered the most attractive in athletics, Le Tu Chinh debuted at the 2017 SEA Games and left an impression with a double gold medal in the 100m and 200m. In 2019, the Ho Chi Minh City runner successfully defended her title as Southeast Asia's speed queen when she won the 100m. However, she has not made a breakthrough in her achievements and has slowed down after being injured.

In the past two years, Vietnamese athletics has seen the emergence of a promising runner, Tran Thi Nhi Yen, born in 2005. In just a short time, she has achieved better results than Tu Chinh. For her first appearance at the 32nd SEA Games (2023), Nhi Yen won a silver medal in the 200m and a bronze medal in the 100m. She is expected to follow in the footsteps of her seniors Vu Thi Huong and Le Tu Chinh, helping Vietnamese athletics maintain its leading position in the speed category.

Tran Thi Nhi Yen (right) strives to follow in the footsteps of her seniors.

PHOTO: GIA KHANG

At the Thong Nhat Speed ​​Cup athletics tournament held on April 16-17 at District 8 Stadium (HCMC), Nhi Yen won a gold medal in the 100m and a silver medal in the 200m. She has just returned from an injury so she has not yet achieved good results. However, according to the coaches, if there is no proper investment, Nhi Yen is at risk of slowing down because her early season results in the 100m were only 11 seconds 81 (qualifying round) and 11 seconds 85 (final) which is not good. It is even more worrying when in the short distance, besides Nhi Yen, the remaining faces such as Ha Thi Thu and Phung Thi Hue also have low results below the threshold.

Why can't Vietnamese athletics make a breakthrough?

Speaking yesterday, April 17, Mr. Duong Duc Thuy, former Head of the Vietnam Athletics Department, said: "We need to look directly at the current situation of Vietnam's athletics, which is a serious lack of standard facilities for training and competition. Athletics training grounds from My Dinh, the Hanoi National Sports Training Center, the Ho Chi Minh City National Sports Training Center, Thong Nhat Stadium... are degraded and damaged. This situation also occurs in most localities. Therefore, how can we get good training results when the basic factor is that the facilities are not guaranteed. Not to mention that in many places, training equipment is degraded but has not been purchased or repaired. Digitalization in athletics management and training is in the technology age, but it is still only on paper."

One of the reasons why Vietnamese athletics find it difficult to find talent in short distance is that there are currently too few tournaments for athletes in this distance. "In Vietnam, athletes in the middle and long distance groups, in addition to the tournaments in the national competition system, have open tournaments in provinces and cities almost every month to participate. Meanwhile, the characteristic of the short distance group is to compete in the field, so there are currently very few tournaments in the year. Fortunately, in addition to the national championship and national relay tournament, Ho Chi Minh City also has the Thong Nhat Speed ​​Cup athletics tournament. This is a valuable opportunity for short distance athletes to compete, rub shoulders, and test their achievements," said Mr. Duong Duc Thuy.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/do-mat-tim-nu-hoang-toc-do-dien-kinh-viet-nam-185250417194623254.htm