Runner Nguyen Thi Oanh (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) — Runner Nguyen Thi Oanh will take partin the women's 1,500m event at the World Athletics Championship on August 19 inBudapest.
The only Vietnam’srepresentative received a wildcard entry to take part in the nine-daytournament in which more than 2,000 athletes from over 200 countries willcompete in the brand-new, purpose-built National Athletics Centre.
The Asian IndoorChampionship winner and her coach Tran Van Sy arrived at the competition venueseveral days ago to acclimatise to the city and the track.
"It is my honourto run at the world championship, running against world-leading athletes,"said Oanh who turned 28 on August 15.
"I hope I willlearn many precious lessons and experiences from this elite competition. Sportis like life, we cannot avoid challenges and difficulties. I always ask myselfto have my best efforts and be patient to reach my target. I want to receivepeople's strong support."
In her class, Oanh, the only athlete from Southeast Asian,will face 54 best runners of all continents including No 1 and worldrecord holder Faith Kipyegon.
TheKenyan set the world record of 3min 49.11sec at a Diamond League meetin Florence, Italy, in June.
Theother title favourites are world indoor championship bronze medalist HirutMeshesha (3:54.87) and world U20 champion Birke Haylom (3:54.93), both ofEthiopia; and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands (3:51.95) who placed No 1 in theworld in 84 weeks in a row.
Oanh'sresult is far below them as her personal best is 4:13.88 set in 2020 while herseasonal best is 4:16.85 that helped her win gold at the 32nd SEA Games.
CoachSy said: "The world event is a rare chance for Oanh to taste the world'smost professional running environment. It would also help her to test herskills and preparation ahead of the China Asian Games nextmonth."
Oanh,having no world ranking, will run in heat three with 13 other runners withworld No 6 Haylom being the favourite for the heat winner.
If the Vietnamese canmake top six, she will qualify for the semi-finals which will be held in theafternoon August 20. The final isscheduled two days later./.
