Vaulter Le Thanh Tung has become the second Vietnamese athlete to book a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan.

The 24-year-old vaulter scored 14,633 points and ranked fifth out of eight athletes competing in the vault final on Tuesday (Vietnam time) at the ongoing 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Germany.

According to the new Olympic qualification format, the top three gymnasts in apparatus event finals not part of a team that has qualified for Tokyo and not already qualified through the all-around will also qualify for the Olympic Games individually, up to a maximum of three gymnasts per nation.

In effect, the rule made Tung eligible for next summer’s Tokyo Games as the top four vaulters graded before the Vietnamese athlete in Tuesday’s vault final had already been the 2020 Olympic qualifiers.

The Tokyo Games will be Tung’s debut in an Olympic event despite his rich achievement in the men’s artistic gymnastics, including gold medals at the Southeast Asian SEA) Games, the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.

He also won two consecutive gold medals in the men’s vault at the 2017 and 2018 FIG World Cup Circuit in Artistic Gymnastics.

Before Tung, 19-year-old swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang won Vietnam’s first ticket to Tokyo 2020 as he hit the Olympic standard while competing at the FINA World Championship in South Korea in July.

Meanwhile, other Vietnamese hopefuls are still in the running for a ticket to Japan.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital city from July 24 to August 9 next year, with 339 events in 33 sports.

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