Nguyen Van Lai was “unmatched” at a distance of 5000m and 10000m in 3 consecutive SEA Games 2013, 2015 and 2017. However, in the nearest SEA Games in the Philippines, Lai has lost the gold medal in the hands of the Thai naturalized athletes, Kieran Tuntivate in the content of 5000m, when only the opponent is exactly 1 second.
After winning the gold medal of 5000m athletics athletes in December 2021 with a time of 14: 51.81, Nguyen Van Lai expressed his determination: “I hope to continue to improve my form in the near future. 5000m is my forte content. I want to overcome the natural athletes of Thailand, who won me only for a second at the 30th SEA Games, to win HCV in the SE GAMES 31 me”.
See also: News SEA Games
SEA GAMES 31th Athletics Calendar in Vietnam
However, Nguyen Van Lai's barrier was that he did not attend many international tournaments to rub before the SEA Games. At the age of 35, fans also cannot expect too much on hybrid. Meanwhile, rival Kieran Tuntivate born in 1997 continues to show great steps in his career.
On February 12, at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational in the US, Kieran Tuntivate broke the Asian record for 5000m men with a record of 13 minutes 08 seconds 41 (13: 08.41), the average speed of 2 minutes 37 seconds/km.
At the 30th SEA Games, Kieran Tuntivate won gold medals for a period of 14: 31.15. Meanwhile, at the 2015 SEA Games, Nguyen Van Lai with the best performance set a record of 5000m with a time of 14: 04.82, compared to the achievement of the latest run of Tuntivate, which is still nearly 1 minute.
