Vietnamese athletes prepare for three major Asian-level tournaments in 2024

Lê Thị Tuyết, a rising marathon star among Vietnamese athletics. — Photo webthethao.vn

Athletics

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese athletes will have the opportunity to take part in three major Asian-level tournaments in 2024.

Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, the general secretary of the Việt Nam Athletics Federation, has announced that the Asian region will host three events next year: the Asian Marathon Championship on January 21, 2024, in China’s Hong Kong; the Asian Indoor Championship on February 15-20, 2024, in Iran; and the Asian U20 Championship on April 22-28, 2024, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

2024 is considered a relatively quiet year for Vietnamese athletics, as there will be no SEA Games or Asian Games. In addition to domestic tournaments, these major Asian events will serve as the primary competitions for Vietnamese athletes to gain experience and prepare for the SEA Games 33 in Thailand in 2025.

Việt Nam will start their preparations for the 2024 Asian Marathon Championship with two tournaments in the first week of the new year. These tournaments are the Việt Nam International Half Marathon on January 1 in Hà Nội and the National Bà Rá Mountain Climbing Tournament on January 6 in Bình Phước Province. These events will attract the best long-distance runners in the country, and they will serve as a basis for selecting players for the 2024 Asian Marathon Championship.

The Vietnamese national athletics team will officially meet in early 2024 to prepare for the international events.

In a previous competitions, the national marathon team represented Việt Nam at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia in May 2023. Hoàng Nguyên Thanh won a bronze medal in the men’s marathon category with a time of 2:35.49, and Lê Thị Tuyết won a silver medal in the women’s marathon category with a time of 2:49.2. Both athletes will participate in the Việt Nam International Half Marathon 2024. This event is the first race in Việt Nam to be licensed, supervised, and operated by the Asian Athletics Association. In the inaugural season in January 2023, thousands of runners competed on the roads around Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

This year, the tournament, jointly organised by the Hà Nội People’s Committee and the Việt Nam Athletics Federation, is expected to attract even more elite runners and amateur marathoners who will compete on the first day of the new year.

As usual, athletes will participate in the half marathon (21.0975km), 10km, and 5km categories for professional and amateur competitors. VNS