Athletics 

Vietnamese runners (in red) compete in the 19th Asian Games' women's 4x400m event. They target a place in the world top 16 to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Photo tienphong.vn

HÀ NỘI - The women's 4x400m team of Việt Nam will have one-month of intensive training in Thailand in preparation for their Asian championship, which is also an Olympic qualifying event.

The Việt Nam Athletics Federation said four runners - Quách Thị Lan, Nguyễn Thị Hằng, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc, Hoàng Thị Minh Hạnh and Lê Thị Tuyết Mai - would begin their course on April 25. It is an important warm-up for their international competitions in the next few months.

The key event will be the Asian Relay Championship in Thailand on May 20 where the Vietnamese expect a good result to be in the world top 16 and grab their ticket to the Paris Olympics.

Việt Nam's 4x400m team are No. 1 in the continent after winning the gold medal at the 2023 Asian championship with a time of 3min 32.06sec. Their result improved at the 19th Asian Games to 3:31.61.

In the world, they are No. 28.

"We believe that we have a big chance to secure an Olympic spot. It depends on how each of us performs at the upcoming competition," said Lan. "We just finished a training course in HCM City and have gradually improved."

"We hope to receive the support and encouragement from the people, which are strong motivations for us to work harder," she said. VNS