HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Thị Huyền took home a gold medal from the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India on Saturday.

Huyền finished first in the final round of the women’s 400m hurdle with a time of 56.14secs.

Indian Anu Raghavan took the silver with a time of 57.22secs, while Sayaka Aoki of Japan grabbed the bronze medal with a time of 58.18secs.

With this result, Huyền broke her Southeast Asian (SEA) Games’ record of 56.15secs, which she set in 2015 in Singapore.

The Asian gold medal is an important milestone to mark Huyền’s return to the line-up of best Vietnamese athletes.

At the 28th SEA Games in Singapore two years ago, Huyền won triple golds in the 400m, 400m hurdles, and 4×400m relay while setting game records in the latter two events. Her results in these games gave her two individual qualifying times for the 2015 World Athletics Championship and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

After that, she didn’t play well and was ousted from the list of athletes in which the National Sports Administration invests.

Recently, she proved herself once again by winning two gold medals in the Singapore Open Track & Field Championships in April, in the 400m and 400m hurdles category.

Earlier, Bùi Thị Thảo won a gold medal in the women’s long jump with a result of 6.54m. Thảo, who bagged two gold medals with her marks of 6.41m and 6.58m at the Asian Grand Prix in May, fouled four jumps but her opening leap of 6.54m was enough for her to make it to the top podium.

In other news, Quách Thị Lan also brought home a silver medal in the women’s 400m division with a time 52.78 secs.

Lan, born in the central province of Thanh Hóa, recorded her best achievement in this category with 52.06secs, earning a silver medal in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea in 2014.

At the recent Asian Grand Prix held in China, Lan took a gold medal with a time of 53.15secs.

The Indian event has attracted some 800 athletes from 45 countries and territories. — VNS