Teenaged Vietnamese swimmers set to compete at world short course championship

Teenagers Nguyen Thuy Hien and Nguyen Quang Thuan will represent Vietnam at the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Championships in Hungary.

Nguyen Quang Thuan is one of two Vietnamese athletes at the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Championships in Hungary.

The tournament will take place from December 10 to 15 in the short course pool at Budapest's Duna Arena, marking the first time Hungary is hosting the event in a 25m pool.

The Vietnamese swimmers just competed at the Southeast Asian Age Groups Swimming Championships in Thailand.

Hien was the best swimmer in the girls' 14-15 years old category after taking four golds, one silver and two bronzes.

Notably, she set a new record in the 50m butterfly event with a time of 27.73 seconds, beating the former record of 27.84 seconds set by En Qi Hoong of Singapore 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, Thuan did well in the boys' 16-18 years old category, earning two golds, two silvers and one bronze.

Hien, who won bronze at the 32nd SEA Games 100m freestyle, has never taken part in a global championship before.

On the other hand, Thuan, the SEA Games' 400m IM silver medal winner, was at the world championships in 2022 and 2023, although he is swimming in the short course competition for the first time.

According to the coaching board, more senior Vietnamese swimmers were not strong enough in the short course event to attend the championship. The two young swimmers have been selected with the aim of gaining experience competing against the world's top athletes.

They are expected to achieve their personal best at the Hungarian event.

In Budapest, they will face the world's strongest swimmers, including global and Olympic champions like Carson Foster and Michael Andrew, who led a strong US team in the medley events. They will also go up against 100m fly long course world record holder Gretchen Walsh, 200m back Olympic champion and 200m breast short course world record holder Kate Douglass, and breaststroke world record holder Lilly King.

Another to watch out for is eight-time Olympic medallist Regan Smith in the 100m and 200m back, Olympic silver medallist Katie Grimes, Olympian Kylie Masse, who took bronze in the 200m backstroke, and 2016 100m free Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak.

In the previous championship in 2022, the US team led the medal table with 17 golds and 36 total medals.

Meanwhile, in regional swimming news, the Vietnamese team wrapped up the age group championship in second place on December 8 in Bangkok.

On the last day, the team earned nine gold medals.

Among the champions were Mai Tran Tuan Anh (boys' 16-18 years old 1,500m free), Duong Van Hoang Quy (boys' 14-15 years old 1,500m free), Nguyen Ngoc Thuy Tien (girls' 16-18 years old 50m back), Le Thi Thuy Trang (girls' 16-18 years old 200m butterfly), Truong Thanh Truc (girls' U13 200m butterfly) and the boys' 4x200m freestyle.

Quy was voted the best athlete of the tournament after winning eight gold medals.

The team grabbed 27 golds, standing just behind the host side, which won an outstanding 43 gold medals. Indonesia came third with 23 golds.

The championships also included diving competitions, which saw Vietnam come in second place with five golds, an unexpected result as the team were aiming to earn silvers.

Singapore came first with 10 golds and Malaysia took third place with four.

VNA