Games-Thai sprinter Puripol eyes Asian Games gold

Thailand's Puripol Boonson will look to ​prove himself as Asia's pre-eminent sprinter when ​he bids for the 100 metres ‌gold medal ​at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, three years after taking silver at Hangzhou.

Boonson became Southeast Asia's first runner to break the 10-second barrier when he ran ‌9.94 on home soil in December and enters the Japan meet in decent form after posting 9.99 seconds at a race in the Czech Republic last month. He made a splash at Hangzhou as a 17-year-old runner-up behind ‌Xie Zhenyi, and the veteran Chinese sprinter may again be Puripol's biggest threat at the Mizuho Park ‌Athletic Stadium this week.

Boonson is a hero in his home nation after winning the 100-200m double at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, and an Asian Games gold would send Thai athletics fans into a frenzy. Home fans will be focused on Olympic javelin ⁠champion Haruka ​Kitaguchi and her rivalry ⁠with China's 18-year-old sensation Yan Ziyi.

Kitaguchi became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic field event at the Paris Games but ⁠Yan has taken the athletics world by storm this year. She produced the second-longest throw in history (71.74) on home soil ​in Xiamen in May on the day after her 18th birthday, one of five Diamond League ⁠titles for the year.

Czech Barbora Spotakova's world record of 72.28 may be at Yan's mercy. In the men’s high jump, Bahrain's former Olympic ⁠champion ​Mutaz Barshim will defend his title and bid for a fourth Asian Games gold, having also won at Hangzhou, Incheon 2014 and Guangzhou in 2010.

Barshim's compatriot Winfred Yavi, Olympic champion in the women’s 3,000m ⁠steeplechase, will aim for a third consecutive Asian Games gold in the event. The Kenya-born Yavi will also take ⁠on the women’s 5000m ⁠and 10,000m, targeting a middle distance hat-trick.

China's Feng Bin, the Olympic runner-up at Paris, heads into the women's discus as favourite after claiming her first Diamond League ‌title in ‌Brussels this month with a throw of 67.46m.