'Speed ​​Queen' Tran Thi Nhi Yen retires from Vietnam athletics team

Vietnam's No. 1 athlete in short distance track and field (100m, 200m) Tran Thi Nhi Yen has submitted a request to leave the national track and field team from October 1, 2025. She ended her peak sports career at the age of 20 to focus on her studies.

Tran Thi Nhi Yen (center) on the 100m track at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Photo: AFP

The news that Nhi Yen will not participate in the 33rd SEA Games in December in Thailand, saying goodbye to the athletics team and also retiring from her top sports career has made many fans regretful.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online on September 18, an official from the athletics department (Vietnam Sports Administration) said Nhi Yen had submitted a request to leave the Vietnam athletics team. In response to the athlete's wishes, the department consulted with the Department's leaders to decide to let her leave the team from October 1, 2025, according to her personal wishes. Although very regretful, the industry respects the decision of the athlete and her family.

It is known that Nhi Yen stopped her top sports career to prepare to go abroad to study at university. Before that, she graduated from high school while competing in top sports. This is a completely legitimate wish of Nhi Yen, even though her sports career was very brilliant at the age of 20.

Tran Thi Nhi Yen was born in 2005 in Long Huu Tay commune, Can Duoc district, Long An (now Tay Ninh province). She showed her athletic talent early in 8th grade, but it was not until the end of 11th grade that Yen officially started to practice professional athletics in the locality.

During a training session at the National Sports Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City (Center 2), Nhi Yen had the chance to meet coach Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong (who created the "speed queen" Le Tu Chinh). This was the turning point that helped her advance rapidly.

At the end of 2022, after winning the gold medal at the national youth tournament, Nhi Yen stunned the Vietnamese athletics community when she won the gold medal in the 100m race and the silver medal in the 200m race in her first time participating in the National Sports Festival.

By 2023, Nhi Yen shone in her two favorite distances of 100m and 200m, winning all the gold medals in domestic competitions and setting two new national youth records. In her first international competition, she won 1 bronze medal and 1 silver medal at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia 2023.

In 2024, she was specially qualified to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In addition, Nhi Yen won the silver medal at the 2024 Asian U20 Athletics Championship.

In May 2025, at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships, Nhi Yen won a valuable bronze medal in the 100m with a time of 11.54 seconds. Her record for the 100m is 11.40 seconds.

With a height of 1.73m and her talent discovered at the age of 17, Nhi Yen was expected to go further in the regional and Asian arenas, replacing the positions previously left by athletes Le Tu Chinh and Vu Thi Huong. The end of Nhi Yen's career at the age of 20 to move to a new direction is therefore a regret for Vietnamese athletics.

KHUONG XUAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nu-hoang-toc-do-tran-thi-nhi-yen-tu-gia-doi-tuyen-dien-kinh-viet-nam-20250918134059649.htm