Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc has become the first Vietnamese track and field athlete to come up to Olympic B standard after she came third in the Asian Walking Championships in Japan.

The 22 year old walker from the central city of Da Nang recorded a time of 1hr 35mins 13secs in the women’s 20km walk, nearly three minutes faster than the required qualifying time of 1hr 38mins, which means she could possibly qualify for the Olympic Games.

Last year, Phuc won gold at the SEA Games 26 in Indonesia with a time of 1hr 43mins 22secs.

In the men’s event, her younger brother, Thanh Ngung, could only manage sixth place with 1hr 27mins 57secs. However, both Phuc and Ngung both broke their own personal and national records./.