The young track and field athletes from Vietnam demonstrated remarkable effort in competition, securing additional championship victories on the final day of the 2023 Southeast Asian Youth Athletics Championships. As a result, they earned a total of 15 gold medals.
On December 9, the last day of the competition in Thailand, the Vietnamese track and field team clinched an additional four significant gold medals. This achievement brought their total to 15 gold medals across the events they participated in, placing them at the top of the overall medal standings.
On the last day, the youth women's 4x400m relay team, comprised of runners Ngo Thi My Duyen, Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, Vu Thi Tra My, and Le Thi Tuyet Mai, delivered an exceptional performance by surpassing teams from Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. They finished first with an impressive total time of 3'48"09, securing the gold medal. Remarkably, this achievement was acknowledged as a new record for the competition, surpassing the previous record of 3'39"79 set by the Thai youth track and field team nine years ago in 2014. The second-place team in the same event was the Thai women's youth 4x400m relay, completing the race in 3'55"00.
In the meantime, Vietnam earned the admiration of its Southeast Asian rivals as the youth women's 4x100m relay team, consisting of Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Nguyen Hong Nhung, Ngo Thi My Duyen, and Le Thi Nhu Quynh, clocked an impressive time of 47"98 to claim the gold medal. The relay teams from Thailand and Singapore secured the second and third positions, respectively. On the same final day, in the women's high jump event, the emerging talent Bui Thi Kim Anh seized the gold with an outstanding height of 1m69. Kim Anh's teammate, Duong Thi Thao, earned the silver medal with a jump of 1m60. Vietnam's last-day medal tally also included a gold in the women's hammer throw event, with Huynh Thi Ngoc Ly achieving a distance of 52m29. Athletes from Thailand, Indonesia, and Laos secured the subsequent rankings.
Combining results from earlier days with the addition of four gold medals and one silver medal on the final day, Vietnam's young track and field team achieved a total of 15 gold medals, 11 silver medals, and five bronze medals, securing the top position in the championship. This year's competition featured young track and field teams from Thailand (the host country), Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. The Vietnamese track and field contingent consisted of 45 members, including 32 athletes competing in various events for both men and women.
