One year breaking two marathon records
In September 2024, when participating in the Techcombank Hanoi Marathon 2024, Nguyen Thi Oanh won the marathon (42.194km) with a time of 2 hours 44 minutes 20 seconds. The result was determined to have surpassed the national record of this event (the old record of 2 hours 44 minutes 50 seconds set by Hoang Thi Ngoc Hoa in January 2024). Nearly three months later, at the Viettel Marathon 2024 also in Hanoi, Nguyen Thi Oanh once again won the marathon with a result of 2 hours 39 minutes 49 seconds. More importantly, she continued to set a national record for the event.
The history of Vietnamese Athletics records Nguyen Thi Oanh as the first athlete to break two national records in the marathon event in the same year of competition. Obviously, determining the result as a national record must be based on the criteria set by the race and the race that Nguyen Thi Oanh participated in met those criteria, so the national record was recognized for her.
“When I registered to participate in the Viettel Marathon 2024 with the Hanoi leg, I also planned to prepare myself professionally. I did not set a goal to break the national record but aimed to strive for good results for myself. On the race track, with favorable weather and the fact that the route was not repeated, athletes like me ran in quite good spirits. Actually, when I entered My Dinh National Stadium (the finishing point was located at the stadium), I caught a glimpse of the time mark of 2 hours and 39 minutes on the electronic board, so I felt really excited and quickly reached the finish line to ensure the result,” said Nguyen Thi Oanh.
Vietnamese athletics has witnessed many female athletes setting national records in the Vietnamese marathon, including Pham Thi Binh, Hoang Thi Thanh, Hoang Thi Ngoc Hoa... However, none of them have set two consecutive national records in the same year. In fact, the two records were set at close times. In January 2024, when Hoang Thi Ngoc Hoa participated in the 2024 Asian Marathon Championship in Hong Kong (China) and achieved a time of 2 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds (breaking the record that had existed for 8 years, since 2016, of Hoang Thi Thanh), experts thought that it would be difficult for any female marathon runner to surpass the above index and the record could be kept for a long time. However, Nguyen Thi Oanh broke those predictions to continuously conquer new records for the Vietnamese women's marathon. When Nguyen Thi Oanh set the national record at the Viettel Marathon 2024 recently, everyone had to admire her for competing with real strength and not because of luck.
Preparation for long term goals
In 2024, Nguyen Thi Oanh will rarely appear in international competitions because Vietnamese Athletics does not have long-distance events and she does not have many important tasks. That is why the girl from Bac Giang once said that she would focus on accumulating this year to prepare for important competitions in 2025 and 2026.
A year earlier, in 2023, Nguyen Thi Oanh exploded at the 32nd SEA Games (May 2024) in Cambodia and then she competed in the Asian Championship, ASIAD 19. However, as the coaching staff of the Athletics Team shared, athletes always need to accumulate through a volume of competitions to recharge their physical strength better. Oanh is doing this.
Nguyen Thi Oanh's most important tournament in 2024 is the National Championship (competing in November 2024). On the field at the 2024 National Championship, Oanh "in" did not encounter any obstacles against her opponents, continuing to win in her 3 favorite distances including: 1,500m, 5,000m, 3,000m obstacles. At the Dong Nai Stadium of the tournament at that time, she shared: "I still maintain my physical strength to ensure professional results according to the set tasks. A year without many international tournaments helps me accumulate and maintain better. I am in a very good spirit for myself. There are still goals ahead for me to conquer and surpass myself."
In 2025, Vietnamese athletics will focus on two important tournaments: the Asian Championship and the 33rd SEA Games (held in Thailand). Nguyen Thi Oanh is the current champion of four events at the SEA Games (1,500m, 5,000m, 3,000m hurdles, 10,000m), so she cannot help but set a goal of maintaining those results.
Oanh "marathon", is it possible?
Certainly, Nguyen Thi Oanh cannot defend her Gold Medal in the number one event, the women's 3,000m hurdles, at the 33rd SEA Games next year. The reason is that the 33rd SEA Games athletics did not include this event in the competition. Looking at her current strength, many people predict that Nguyen Thi Oanh is also considered for the list of candidates for the women's marathon event in this arena. However, that is just an outside guess. Everyone clearly understands that when competing in the arena of the Games, especially the SEA Games, ensuring results must be the top priority.
Nguyen Thi Oanh's forte is in the field, so above all she must maintain her championship titles when competing in the 33rd SEA Games next year. Oanh is someone who understands which goals and achievements are important to her. At the 30th SEA Games, athlete Christine Hallasgo (Philippines) won the Gold Medal in the women's marathon with a result of 2 hours 56 minutes 56 seconds; at the 31st SEA Games, the women's marathon champion was Odekta Elvina Naibaho (Indonesia) with a time of 2 hours 55 minutes 28 seconds; at the 32nd SEA Games, the women's marathon champion continued to be Odekta Elvina Naibaho (Indonesia) - 2 hours 48 minutes 14 seconds. The last time Vietnamese Athletics won a Gold Medal in the women's marathon at the SEA Games was in 2013 when Pham Thi Binh achieved a result of 2 hours 45 minutes 34 seconds.
The above professional indicators, if compared, are all lower than Nguyen Thi Oanh's results.
“I have professional preparation according to the training plan of the coaching staff. I don’t say anything in advance, but when competing in a tournament, I always have one goal above all, which is to conquer that race track,” Nguyen Thi Oanh shared.
Many people say that Nguyen Thi Oanh is a versatile runner because she has conquered half marathon, marathon and indoor events. For her, conquering the running track is something she always strives for.
After the 2024 National Athletics Championship and the recent marathons, if you are present at the athletics field at the National Sports Training Center in Hanoi, you can see this petite girl practicing like many other colleagues. The training program that coach Tran Van Sy gave Nguyen Thi Oanh has not changed with a few dozen kilometers of training per day. Nguyen Thi Oanh does not "play" her forte in the marathon event and for her, the half-marathon and marathon long runs in the amateur competitions she has participated in are a supplement to accumulate expertise, while winning prizes is a legitimate increase in income. For Oanh, conquering the on-field events in the international arena is the goal she is setting.
Nguyen Thi Oanh's career was marked by a Bronze Medal in the 3,000 hurdles event at the 18th Asian Games in 2018. She had set a goal of trying to win a medal in this event at the 2023 Asian Championships but was unsuccessful. Coach Tran Van Sy and the coaching staff built a professional plan for her and only when entering the decisive tournament did they create a surprise.
