At every SEA Games, athletics is always considered the "gold mine" of the Vietnam Sports Delegation.
At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, Vietnam's athletics won 12 gold medals, 20 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals.
Previously, at the Games held at home, athletics brought home the most medals with 22 gold medals, 14 silver medals and 8 bronze medals.
This year, Vietnam's athletics is more cautious to outline the goal of striving to win 12 gold medals at the 33rd SEA Games. Accordingly, events such as 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay, long jump or walking... are still the strengths of the team.
Since the beginning of the year, athletics has been one of the earliest national teams to gather with 70 athletes gathered at 5 Training Centers nationwide.
At the end of May, the Vietnam Athletics Team will participate in the Asian Championship, expected to have top athletes from the continent as well as Southeast Asia in particular participating.
Therefore, this is considered a useful test for Vietnam's athletics before heading towards the 33rd SEA Games - the most important arena in 2025.
During the training process, player Quach Thi Lan shared: "The team's coaching staff always encourages us in the process of preparing for the 2025 Asian Championship.
We identify the tournament in Korea as a stepping stone towards the 33rd SEA Games. The coaching staff does not put much pressure on us to achieve results in the upcoming Asian tournament".
However, it is necessary to recognize that this will be a challenging SEA Games for Vietnamese athletics when competing in Thailand. This is also identified as Vietnam's biggest competitor at this year's Congress.
In the past 2 years, Thailand has invested heavily in athletics. Athletes are continuously trained domestically and internationally, competing in large-scale international competitions.
Notably, 18-year-old "copper" Puripol Boonson has made history by becoming the first Thai athlete to win a silver medal at the 2024 U20 World Athletics Championship. Previously, at the 19th ASIAD, Boonson also won a silver medal in the 100m event.
In addition, other events such as 200m, 800m, men's and women's relay teams... have also been focused on by Thailand in recent times.
In addition to Thailand, some countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia also have naturalized athletes, promising to bring great challenges to Vietnam's athletics at the upcoming SEA Games.
