Lê Thị Tuyết Mai didn't expect to run as well as she did in her first international tournament at the recent 15th SEA Youth Athletics Championship.

She won golds in all four categories that she entered in during the meet in Thailand earlier this month.

The 17-year-old has been one of Việt Nam's 'athletic treasures' who hopes to lift the country back on top of regional games.

Difficulties make up star

Born in 2006, Mai is the youngest child in a Thổ ethnic minority family in Nghĩa Đàn District, Nghệ An Province.

She experienced a tough childhood after her father passed away at a young age due to cancer, leaving her mother to single-handedly raise three children.

Mai was recruited in the provincial Centre for Sports Training and Competition in 2020 after her impressive and promising performance at a local running tournament.

Mai was pleased with her choice as being an athlete she would be paid by the Government and would help ease her mother's hardships. It was also a new chapter in her life despite many difficulties ahead.

"The early time living far away from family was really difficult. At the centre, I had to work hard to adapt with high intensity and professional training schedule," said Mai.

"I also suffered homesickness and injuries which made me want to return home. Luckily, my coaches were by my side, encouraging and supporting me. Thanks to them, I tried every day to improve myself and achieve my targets."

Lê Thị Tuyết Mai (fifth, right) and her teammates on the top podium of the women's 4x400m relay at the SEA Youth Athletics Championship. They won gold and set new Game's record. — Photo courtesy of Lê Thị Tuyết Mai

Her determination and diligence brought sweet results in 2022.

At the National Age Groups Athletics Championship, her first national-level tournament, Mai took one gold, on silver and one bronze in both individual and team events of 400m and 400m hurdles.

A month later, she earned two silvers and one bronze medal at the National Youth Athletics Championship.

Also at the National Sports Games in 2022, Mai and teammates were in top three finishers in the women's 4x400m event.

The more she trained, the better she became.

Mai secured gold and silver at the Speed Cup HCM City, an annual tournament held in April which featured the strongest athletes.

She continued dominating the National Age Groups Championship and National Youth Athletics Championship with golds in 400m and 400m hurdles in June and August, respectively.

And her impressive performance with one silver and two bronze medals at the National Athletics Championship in October persuaded coaches to call her to the national youth team. 

Considering one of the most potential junior runners, Mai was selected to represent Việt Nam at the 15th SEA Youth Athletics Championship.

Mai proved her power to win golds in the 400m individual, 4x100m, 4x400m, and mixed 4x400m events.

Notably, in the 4x400m, Mai along with her teammates Ngô Thị Mỹ Duyên, Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh and Vũ Thị Trà My, set a championship record with a time of 3min 48.09sec, breaking the old one of 3:49.79 set by Thailand in 2014.

Her performance made coach Nguyễn Đức Nguyên believe that she would be a good successor for senior runner Nguyễn Thị Huyền who dominated the region for many years before she retired earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Việt Nam Athletics General Secretary Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng said Mai would be one of members in the relay team who would receive strong support to take Việt Nam's Paris Olympics place next July.

"My achievement is first steps in a long and challenging journey. I really admired my seniors' success. Their success is strong motivation and goal for me to strive for."

Her coach Hà Thị Kim Ánh agreed with her, saying currently, Nghệ An are home to high-quality athletes. One of them is Mai, a prominent runner who made strong progress and would earn better results in the near future. — VNS