Hằng break regional record at national meet.

The 19-year-old from HCM City fin- ished the race in 4:19.42 to beat the record set by Lan Anh of Hà Nội in the last Southeast Asian Games in Việt Nam by six hundredths of a second.

Earlier, Hằng won a silver medal in the women's 800m after finishing behind Đỗ Thị Bông from Thừa Thiên Huế, who took the gold in 2:06.97. Lan Anh did not compete because of injury.

"I,m not surprised by the result. Despite her youth, she works very hard and has achieved good results after the recent training course in China. She could have run fastet ìf she hadn't competed in the 800m befơrehand, " said Hồ Thị Từ Tâm, the national coach.

Hằng's record was the second of the day, with the first o­ne going to Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Ly of Đà Nẵng in the women's hammer. Ly shattered the old record of Dương Thị Le by over five metres to take gold with a hurl of 40.94m.