Nguyen Huy Hoang becomes first Vietnamese swimmer to win double gold at Asian championships

At the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex on Wednesday night, Hoang finished first in the 800m freestyle with a time of 7 minutes and 57.58 seconds. Uzbekistan's Sibirtsev Ilya and China's Xu Haibo followed in second and third place, with times of 7 minutes and 59.37 seconds, and 8 minutes and 1.34 seconds, respectively.

Hoang has secured Vietnam's first-ever double gold in the men's event at the Asian Aquatic Championships. Earlier, he clinched a gold medal in the 1,500 m freestyle event.

Previously, Vietnam's only gold medal at the tournament came from the legendary Nguyen Thi Anh Vien in the 400 m medley event in 2016.

Born in 2000, Hoang is Vietnam's top male swimmer and has made a name for himself on the international stage, having represented the nation in both the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. He won a gold medal in the 800 m freestyle at the 2018 Youth Olympics and multiple medals at the Asian Games, including a silver in the 1,500 m freestyle and a bronze in the 400 m freestyle at two Asian Games. He has also claimed 11 gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze at the SEA Games.

The fact that Hoang did not face many of Asia's top swimmers at this tournament, such as Kim Woo-min from South Korea and China's Fei Liwei, contributed to his victory.

Hoang is expected to continue dominating in Southeast Asia and is also eyeing future events, including the SEA Games 33 in Thailand later this year, where he is poised to take home more golds.

The Asian Aquatic Championships in India feature 1,100 athletes from 24 teams competing in 61 events. China and Japan brought their second-tier swimmers, while Singapore and Indonesia were absent. The tournament will run from Sept. 28 to Oct. 10.

In addition to Hoang's gold medals, Vietnam also secured seven silver and five bronze medals, putting them at fourth in the medal tally, behind mainland China, Japan and Hong Kong.