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, Qatar'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. Bahrain's 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.