With her excellent performance in heptathlon, Nguyen Linh Na of Vietnam made an impressive comeback on May 17, the second competition day of this sport at SEA Games 31, to pocket a gold medal.

On the previous day, Norliyana Kamarruddin of Malaysia took the lead in the women’s heptathlon with 3,237 points and became a strong contender for the gold. Nguyen Linh Na ranked second with 3,231 points.

Na still followed Kamarruddin in long jump on May 17, leading to an 18-point gap with 3,960 points for the former and 3,978 points for the latter.

However, thanks to her outstanding performance in the last two events, the Vietnamese athlete recorded 41.85 metres in javelin and 2 minutes and 25.35 seconds in the 800-metre run to secure 5,415 points in total, topping the women’s heptathlon.

With not-as-good-as-expected performance in these two events, Norliyana Kamarruddin of Malaysia dropped to the third place with 5,262 points and earned a bronze medal. Sarah Dequiman Noveno of the Philippines moved up to the second position with 5,381 points and won a silver.

The latest gold from Na added up to Vietnam’s 15 gold medals in athletics at SEA Games 31, meeting the target of at least 15 golds in track and field events./.

VNA/VNP