Athletics

Tạ Ngọc Tưởng wins silver in the men's 400m at the Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, on July 11. — Photo courtesy of laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Tạ Ngọc Tưởng won a silver medal and set a national record at the Asian U23 Athletics Championships, which closed on July 12 in Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.

The national champion faced strong rivals from Japan, India, Qatar and the hosts in the men's 400m event at the Sport Development Center Stadium.

He was among leading group from the beginning before finishing second in a time of 45.50sec.

Japan's Shinya Hayashi came first in 45.26sec while China's Shi Jun was third in 45.92.

All three athletes recorded personal bests, while Tưởng set a new Vietnamese record.

It was the third time in 11 months that Tưởng broke the national record.

The first came when he ran 45.59sec at the national championships in August 2025 in Đà Nẵng, breaking the 10-year-old record of 45.99sec set by veteran runner Quách Công Lịch.

Four months later, he won the silver medal at the 33rd SEA Games after running 45.53sec to break his own record.

Tưởng's silver was the second for Việt Nam at the tournament in China.

Earlier, Lê Thị Cẩm Tú came second in the women's 200m event.

Lê Thị Cẩm Tú (left) receives her silver medal after finishing second in the women's 200m event. — Photo courtesy of the organisers

Although she started from the unfavoured lane seven, Tú led from the start but couldn't maintain her advantage in the final metres as Jiang Yutong of China overtook her and finished first in a time of 23.47sec.

Tú was second in 23.50sec, a her personal best.

The bronze medal went to Ami Takahashi of Japan in a time of 23.66.

Vietnamese runners also grabbed two bronzes.

In the women's 5,000m, Lê Thị Tuyết was third with a time of 17min 5.30sec, behind Yuan Li of China (16:45.07) and Koharu Chugo of Japan (16:50.62).

In the women's long jump, Hà Thị Thúy Hằng cleared 6.10m to take the bronze medal.

China's Yingying Huang came first with a jump of 6.48m, while Anastassiya Rypakova of Kazakhstan earned silver with 6.11m.

The inaugural championship for U23 athletes was held from July 9-12. The event brought together over 500 young track-and-field athletes and officials from across 27 countries and territories to compete in various disciplines, including sprints, jumps and the decathlon. — VNS