Prayogo Agus of Indonesia came in second with 14:15.14 and Namket Sanchai of Thailand was in third with 14:40.59.
VanLai broke his personal record of 14:08.68 made in December 2014. Thetriumph helped Lai consolidate his domination of the men’s 5,000-metrein the region.
In the 2013 SEA Games, Lai clinched a gold medal in the same event with 14:19.35.
Another Vietnamese athlete, Do Quoc Luan, came in fourth with 14:56.
Van Lai will continue to compete in men’s 10,000-metre event on June 10.
With Lai’s win, Vietnam was in third place with 32 gold medals, 15 silvers and 37 bronzes.-VNA