Vietnamese runner Quách Thị Lan finishes 35th at the World Athletics Championships 400m hurdles in Oregon, the USA. Photo from Quách Thị Lan facebook

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam representative Quách Thị Lan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the women's 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships on Thursday morning (Hà Nội time) in Oregon, the US.

Lan ran in heat three in qualification and finished sixth among seven competitors with a time of 58.8sec.

Overall, Lan, the only runner from Southeast Asia, placed 35th in a total of 37 athletes and could not advance to the next round, which offers spots for only 24 best runners at the Hayward Stadium in Eugene City.

Her result was also the worst for the Thanh Hóa Province athlete since 2015. 

The 26-year-old competed in last July's Tokyo Olympics with a time of 55.71 and was the first Vietnamese runner to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semis, she clocked in at 56.78.

Lan, the Asian championship, Asian Games and SEA Games defending champion, is the only Vietnamese athlete to earn a berth in the World Championships.

She ran 56.33 to win her first ever SEA Games title in May in Hà Nội. Her personal best is 55.30, which helped her triumph at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

The semi-finals will be held on July 21, and the final is two days later.

The World Championships run from July 15-24, with 49 sets of medals up for grabs. VNS