Vietnamese athlete finishes seventh at Triple Deca Continous

The 34-year-old athlete finished seventh among 14 competitors taking part in the arduous 6810km-race which stretches three times longer than the longest road in Vietnam, the national route 1A measuring 2301km in length.

Triple Deca Continous is one of the world's toughest triathlon events and is held in Desenzano del Garda in Italy. Participants must complete the race, including a 114km swim, a 5400km bike ride, and a 1266km run from September 1 to October 16.

Vu Phuong Thanh successfully conquered the challenge after clocking a time of 1,044 hours, seven minutes, and 45 seconds, nearly 36 hours faster than the total time limit.

The female athlete duly finished the swimming segment in 95 hours 47 minutes, cycling in 535 hours 53 minutes 56 seconds, and running in 403 hours 35 minutes 23 seconds.

Most recently, in March this year, she also became the first Vietnamese athlete to finish the 500km-race after nine consecutive days participating in the annual Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra (MLAU) 2024 in Sweden.

In 2022, she was the first Vietnamese athlete to win the Swiss Ultra Deca Continuous Triathlon World Championship in the women’s category. She clocked a time of 328 hours 27 minutes and 55 seconds, roughly an hour faster than her closest rival from France, after completing 38km of swimming, 1,800km of cycling, and 422km of running.

In 2016, Vu Phuong Thanh became the first Asian woman to complete the 4 Desert Grand Slam involving 250km in Namibia, the 250km Gobi March, the 250km Atacama Crossing, and The Last Desert of 250km in the Antarctic.