Anh Vien wins seventh gold, 15-year-old Kim Son makes perfect SEA Games debut

Swimming star Nguyen Thi Anh Vien satisfied home fans by winning two additional gold medals within just one hour on the evening of August 25, thereby increasing her individual gold medal tally, at the ongoing 29th SEA Games, to seven.

Swimmer Anh Vien has possessed an amazing collection of seven individual gold medals in Kuala Lumpur.
Swimmer Anh Vien has possessed an amazing collection of seven individual gold medals in Kuala Lumpur.

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Vien was crowned the fastest in the women’s 400m individual medley event after completing the race in 4 minutes 45.82 seconds, around 5 seconds faster than the runner-up, Azzahra Permatahani of Indonesia.

Not long afterwards, Vien seized another gold medal in the 50m backstroke discipline with a time of 29.26 seconds.

In the women’s 200m breaststroke event, the Can Tho-born swimmer failed to defend her title and had to settle for a silver medal. Phiangkhwan Pawapotako won the race to bring home the first swimming gold medal for Thailand at this SEA Games.

Friday night also witnessed a sparkling performance by 15-year-old swimmer Nguyen Huu Kim Son, who bagged the gold medal and broke the SEA Games record in the men’s 400m medley competition with a time of 4 minutes 22.12 seconds.

Swimmer Paul Le Nguyen came third in the men’s 50 m freestyle event, winning a bronze medal.

On the morning of August 26, Le Nguyen Paul and Anh Vien are expected to harvest additional gold medals for Vietnam after qualifying for the men’s 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle finals, respectively.

To the surprise of everyone, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh, one of Vietnam’s biggest golden hopes, missed out on the top honour in his favourite 10m air pistol event, in which he blasted a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Vinh only scored 234.1 points in the final, 4.2 points behind the gold medalist, Jonathan Wo of Malaysia.

So, the top Vietnamese marksman left the 29th SEA Games with a zero-medal tally.

As of 12am today, Vietnam remains in second place on the medal count with 44 golds, behind Malaysia with 70 golds.

Kim Son is the only male swimmer to secure a gold medal for Vietnam in Kuala Lumpur.