NextSharkNextShark.com
Latest Newsletter🍵 Ming-Na Wen honoredRead

Article

Female athlete becomes first Vietnamese to win the ‘world’s toughest’ triathlon

vietnamese deca triathlon
  • Vu Phuong Thanh, 32, became the first Vietnamese athlete to win the Deca Ultra Triathlon World Championship at the Swissultra in Switzerland on Sunday.

  • Considered the world’s toughest triathlon competition, the Swissultra is 10 times the distance of a normal triathlon, covering 23.61 miles for swimming, 1,118 miles for cycling and 262.22 miles for running.

  • Thanh finished first in the event’s female category after completing the course in 328 hours 27 minutes 55 seconds, over an hour ahead of France's Nadine Zacharias, who finished in second place.

  • Born in Hanoi, Thanh has been nicknamed Vietnam’s “desert rose,” or "the girl who runs around the world” after becoming the first Asian to run through the four harshest deserts in the world.

Asian America Daily - in under 5 minutes

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories, to your inbox daily, for free!

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive

A female athlete has become the first Vietnamese competitor to win the Deca Ultra Triathlon World Championship at the Swissultra in Switzerland on Sunday.

Considered the world’s toughest triathlon competition, the Swissultra covers 10 times the distance of a normal triathlon.

Vu Phuong Thanh, 32, finished first in the event’s female category after swimming 38 kilometers (approximately 23.61 miles), cycling 1,800 kilometers (approximately 1,118.46 miles) and running 422 kilometers (approximately 262.22 miles) over the span of 14 days. She completed the course in 328 hours 27 minutes 55 seconds and won a cash prize of 1,000 Euro (approximately $1,000). 

Thanh was the only representative from Vietnam in the extremely challenging event, which included only 23 international athletes: 19 men and four women.

“This was a very special experience indeed,” she was quoted as saying. “During the race, there were many athletes from many different countries. Athletes often exchanged, shared experiences and inspired each other. Cycling at night also made us feel very sleepy, so we rode and talked to each other.”

France’s Nadine Zacharias finished in second place in 329 hours, 27 minutes and 16 seconds. The other two women failed to complete the race.

According to Thanh, the president of the World Triathlon National Federations told her that “in the past 30 years, only around 100 people have completed the World Champion Deca Ultra Triathlon. It was certainly not easy to complete this event, sometimes it seemed like I couldn’t do it.”

Meanwhile, Belgium’s Kenneth Vanthuyne, who became champion of the men’s category, completed all categories in just eight days.

Born in Hanoi, Thanh has been referred to as Vietnam’s “Desert Rose,” or “The Girl Who Runs Around the World,” after becoming the first Asian to run through the four harshest deserts in the world — the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Gobi Desert in China, the Sahara Desert in North Africa and the Antarctica Desert in Antarctica — in 2016. 

 

Featured Image via @swissultra_triathlon

Support our Journalism with a Contribution

Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.

Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.

However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.

We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way.  Thank you for everyone's support. We love you all and can't appreciate you guys enough.

Support NextShark

Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Discover, Paypal