National record
Hoang Thanh Giang is a potential athlete of Vietnam's athletics in the women's 7- sport event.
She started her career with a long-distance dance event and made her mark at the 2023 national championship. In this tournament, Thanh Giang achieved a mark of 6m39 and surpassed Bui Thi Thu Thao - a former ASIAD champion. This is also the first time the female athlete from Hai Phong has won a national gold medal in the long jump event after 6 years of professional training.
After that, Hoang Thanh Giang switched to competing in 7 coordinated sports. This change helped her promote her abilities in many different technical groups.
In 2024, she won the national gold medal with a total score of 5,338 points. This achievement was achieved right during the period when she had to treat injuries to her knee and heel, positions that directly affected her jumping power and speed. However, Giang still maintained the training pace and improved each content according to the requirements of the coaching staff.
In 2025, Hoang Thanh Giang will compete in the national championship in the context of her senior Nguyen Linh Na not participating. This opens up opportunities for female athletes to compete for the No. 1 position.
In all 7 competitions, Giang maintained her stability and won a total of 5,481 points, thereby helping her win a gold medal and deeply breaking Linh Na's old national record (5440 points).
Giang's progress is assessed as stable and systematic. She did not have a sudden breakthrough in a specific event, but improved evenly in many competitions, from the strength group such as weightlifting to the speed group such as 200m running...
Expectations at the 33rd SEA Games
The 33rd SEA Games in Thailand took place in the context that Vietnam's combined 7-athletics female athletes no longer have many options. After Nguyen Linh Na stopped competing, Hoang Thanh Giang became the only representative of the team to compete.
This invisiblely puts a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of young girls, but at the same time opens up opportunities to aim for a medal - something Thanh Giang has never done in the two previous SEA Games.
Right after the 2025 national tournament, Giang entered a new training cycle, focusing on increasing endurance and physical foundation, then switching to professional sports with high difficulty.
Because the center currently does not have a specialized coach for 7 sports, Giang has to move between sports groups such as fenced running, high jump... to practice. This makes the daily exercise volume larger than that of athletes competing in singles.
Sharing with Lao Dong, Thanh Giang shared: "I go there every day when the group crosses the fence or the dance group is away to practice. Traveling between practice groups forces me to arrange a reasonable time, because I cannot practice all the contents in one day".
The female athlete said that her current physical condition is about 60-70%. However, the curriculum is designed according to a long-term cycle, so the competition status will peak near the SEA Games.
According to experts, the score of 5,481 achieved at the national tournament helps Giang be in the group capable of competing for medals in the region.
This achievement is also slightly better than the gold medal score at the 32nd SEA Games (5,403 points). If she maintains her current pace and improves a few important parameters, Giang can aim to compete for the highest position.
The content of 7 coordination sports is always considered a big challenge for female athletes. Having to compete in 7 consecutive events for 2 days requires a physical foundation and prolonged concentration. Therefore, athletes who can maintain stable and durable performance like Hoang Thanh Giang are highly appreciated.
For now, Hoang Thanh Giang still has a lot of work to do to maintain a stable score. The 33rd SEA Games will be an opportunity for her to affirm her abilities in the regional arena and open a stepping stone for the further goals of Vietnam's athletics.
