Race walker Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phúc celebrates with her result at the National Athletics Championship yesterday. — Photo thanhnien.vn

HÀ NỘI — Race walker Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phúc won A gold medal and broke the national record in the women’s 10km category at the National Athletics Championship yesterday.

Phúc took first place with a time of 50:39.74 at Thống Nhất Stadium in HCM City. She beat her own old record of 52.07.93 which has stood for 11 years.

Phúc, 29, has had two years away from the sport to give birth.

However, after only seven months of training, she proved the No 1 position in the country with the gold medal in the National Sports Games last year.

At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2011, 2013 and 2015, Phúc also bagged gold medals in the 20km event.

At the Asian Walk Race Championship in 2013, Phúc from Đà Nẵng took a silver medal. She competed for Việt Nam at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Earlier, Phúc’s younger brother, Nguyễn Thành Ngưng also won gold in the men’s 20km category.

Runner Nguyễn Thị Huyền, who has also returned to competition after two years to give birth, reaffirmed her spot as a top regional runner in the women’s 400m and 400m hurdle.

In the women’s triple jump yesterday, Vũ Thị Mến of Nam Định took the title with 13.53m, followed by Vũ Thị Ngọc Hà of Hà Nam jumped 13.36m and Nguyễn Thị Hường of Hà Nội with 13.17m.

Mến’s best result in this division is 14.15m which she set at the SEA Games in Malaysia two years ago.

In the hammer throw, Bùi Lưu Phương Ngân of Vĩnh Long defeated Nguyễn Thị Yến Linh of Trà Vinh and Lê Thị Nguyễn Thùy of Đà Nẵng to triumph with 49.32m in the women’s event.

On the men’s side, Đỗ Tấn Trưởng of Đà Nẵng won gold with a throw of 55.17m. Trưởng broke his own record of 55.11m which he set in a recent event in Thailand this year.

Meanwhile, Lê Tú Chinh saw strolled to victory in the women’s 200m. The HCM City’s athlete won a gold medal after clocking a time of 23.79sec. Chinh’s teammate Hà Thị Thu and Hoàng Thị Ngọc of Quảng Bình were the runners-up.

In the 200m for men, Bình Dương’s Nguyễn Văn Châu took the gold medal with a time of 21.58sec. Nguyễn Hùng Cường of Đà Nẵng and Lãnh Văn Cương of Police took silver and bronze medal.

In the women’s high jump, Dương Thị Việt Anh of Bạc Liêu won the gold medal after clearing the bar at 1.80m.

The Bạc Liêu province-born athlete Anh competed in the London Olympics in 2012. Her previous personal best was 1.90m which she set at the SEA Game in Indonesia in 2011.

The annual event will finish today. — VNS