Thailand’s Boonson and China’s Chen Set Dash Data at 2026 Asian Games

Thailand’s Puripol Boonson and China’s Chen Yujie produced the standout performances of Day 6 on the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya on Friday, every profitable gold and setting a brand new Asian Games document within the males’s and ladies’s 100-meter finals.

Boonson, 20, received the boys’s ultimate in 9.90 seconds to turn out to be solely the second Asian sprinter in historical past to run that quick. Su Bingtian’s continental document of 9.83 seconds — set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — is the one quicker time by an Asian sprinter on document.

The victory ended a 48-year absence for Thailand within the occasion. The nation’s final Asian Games males’s 100-meter champion was Suchart Jairsuraparp, who received on the 1978 Bangkok Games when Thailand served as host. Friday’s gold arrived in emphatic vogue: Boonson ran sub-10 seconds in all three rounds, going 9.95 within the heats and 9.91 within the semifinals earlier than profitable the ultimate in 9.90. The 9.91 within the semis had itself set a brand new Asian Games document, erasing Su Bingtian’s earlier mark of 9.92 from the 2018 Jakarta Games; Boonson then surpassed that effort within the ultimate. World Athletics confirmed the outcomes.

The Star reported that after the race, Boonson indicated his subsequent goal is Su Bingtian’s Asian document of 9.83 seconds.

Oman’s Ali Al Balushi took silver in 10.04, with bronze going to his brother Mazen Al Balushi in 10.11 — the 2 siblings sharing a spot on the identical podium.

A unique type of dash story unfolded within the girls’s ultimate. Chen Yujie, 17, received in 11.06 seconds — an Asian Games document and an enchancment on the Asian under-20 continental mark she already held. Chen doesn’t flip 18 till December.

She had already proven she may deal with the competitors at this degree. The Malay Mail reported that Chen had overwhelmed silver medalist Shanti Pereira at their earlier main assembly, the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships. That end result was repeated in Nagoya. Singapore’s Shanti Pereira, 30, a two-time Olympian, completed second in 11.21 — repeating the silver she earned on the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong was third in 11.33.

Chen acknowledged to reporters that her legs had been shaking throughout the warm-up and that she had feared a false begin, in feedback reported by the Malay Mail. None of that carried into the race.

“I want to leave my mark for the Chinese women’s sprinters and for the Asian sprinters,” she mentioned. “I want to achieve more on the international stage, at the world championships and at the Olympics.”

Chen additionally known as the victory “the best present for my birthday” — a phrase she provided in translated feedback reported by the Malay Mail, months earlier than her 18th birthday in December.