Puripol Boonson (athletics, Thailand) won three gold medals, individual and relay, breaking records in all three events he entered. The standout moment came in the men's 100 meters heats, where he clocked 9.94 seconds to become the first Southeast Asian athlete to run the distance in under 10 seconds. He was slower in the final but still took gold with a time of 10.00 seconds.
In the 200 meters final, the Thai sprinter finished first in 20.07 seconds, breaking his own previous record of 20.37. Puripol capped off a stellar Games with a third gold in the men's 4x100 meters relay, teaming up with Thawatchai Himaiad, Chayut Khongprasit and Soraoat Dapbang to win in 38.28 seconds, breaking the SEA Games record set by Thailand in 2021.
Grace Wong (women's hammer throw, Malaysia) smashed four SEA Games records and three national records in less than an hour to claim gold at the 33rd SEA Games. The Malaysian thrower posted successive marks of 63.34 m, 63.83 m, 65.09 m and 65.41 m, repeatedly eclipsing the SEA Games record of 61.87 m and the national record of 63.53 m.
Wong is currently ranked 161st in the world in the women's hammer throw and sits in the top eight in Asia, according to World Athletics statistics. This was her fourth SEA Games gold in the event, following victories in 2017 (Kuala Lumpur), 2021 (Vietnam) and 2023 (Cambodia).
Quah Ting Wen (swimming, Singapore) won gold in the women's 100 m butterfly, becoming the most decorated athlete in SEA Games history. The Singaporean swimmer has now won a total of 63 medals across 10 SEA Games since her debut in 2005 in the Philippines -- 35 gold, 22 silver and six bronze.
The previous record belonged to her senior teammate Joscelin Yeo, also from Singapore's swimming team, with 62 medals. Yeo still holds the record for the most gold medals overall, with 40.
Letitia Sim (swimming, Singapore) claimed five gold medals in the women's 50 m, 100 m and 200 m breaststroke, the 200 m individual medley, and the 4x100 m mixed medley relay, breaking records in all four individual events. Her victory in the 100 m breaststroke made her the first female swimmer to win gold in the same event at three consecutive SEA Games.
Nicknamed Singapore's "Breaststroke Queen," Letitia won bronze at the 2023 World Cup in the 200 m breaststroke, finished in the top four at the Asian Games, and competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Weightlifting emerged as a “record goldmine” at the 33rd SEA Games, with five world records broken during the competition.
Theerapong Silachai (Thailand) shattered the men’s 60 kg clean and jerk world record by lifting 173 kg, surpassing the previous mark of 172 kg.
Rizki Juniansyah (Indonesia) set a world record in the men’s 79 kg clean and jerk after successfully lifting 205 kg. In the same weight class, Rizki went on to break the world record in the total with 365 kg, improving on the previous record of 363 kg.
Weeraphon Wichuma (Thailand) broke the men’s 71 kg clean and jerk world record with a lift of 195 kg. He then completed his competition with a total of 347 kg, setting another new world record in the 71 kg category.
Vietnamese shooter Trinh Thu Vinh captured a double gold in the women’s 25 m pistol team and individual events. Earlier, she had also won gold in the women’s 10 m air pistol individual and team events, and claimed silver in the mixed team 10 m air pistol alongside Pham Quang Huy.
Thu Vinh became the most successful Vietnamese shooter at a single SEA Games, surpassing Ngo Huu Vuong’s four-gold record from 2009. At the 33rd SEA Games, she also set three Games records—in the women’s 10 m air pistol individual and team events, and the women’s 25 m pistol individual.
Nguyen Thi Oanh (athletics, Vietnam) completed a hat-trick of gold medals in the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and 3,000 m steeplechase, equaling the SEA Games athletics record of 15 gold medals held by legends Jennifer Tin Lay (Myanmar) and Elma Muros (Philippines).
Her 15 gold medals came from the 1,500 m (SEA Games 29, 30, 31, 32), 5,000 m (29, 30, 31, 32, 33), 10,000 m (32, 33) and 3,000 m steeplechase (30, 31, 32, 33). The 30-year-old runner also won a silver medal in the 3,000 m steeplechase at the 27th SEA Games.
Host nation Thailand won a record 233 gold medals, breaking Vietnam’s previous mark of 205 at the 31st SEA Games. This was Thailand’s 14th time topping the overall medal table, and the first since the 28th Games in Singapore. The hosts dominated Olympic sports such as boxing (14 golds), athletics (13), taekwondo, canoeing, cycling (10) and weightlifting (9).
Indonesia finished second with 91 gold medals, while Vietnam placed third with 87 gold, 81 silver and 110 bronze medals, for a total of 278. They were followed by Malaysia (57 golds), Singapore (52) and the Philippines (50). Four delegations -- Myanmar (3), Laos (2), Brunei (1) and Timor-Leste -- did not win any gold medals.
