Puripol Boonson becomes first Thai, first ASEAN Asian Games MVP

Thai sprinter Puripol Boonson, 20, received the Male MVP award of the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan on October 4, becoming the first Thai and first Southeast Asian athlete in history to win the honor — a prize that has been awarded since 1998 — after winning two sprint golds and breaking or matching continental records in both events.

A new chapter for Thai athletics

The award ceremony took place at the Media Center, Hall 3, Nagoya Port Messe, where OCA Vice Director Vinod Kumar Tiwari presented Boonson with a trophy and $25,000 in prize money — roughly ฿830,000. The Female MVP award went to Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi, just 13 years old, who won three golds and set an Asian record in the pool.

What makes the award remarkable is the sheer length of the drought it ended: since the Male MVP prize was first given out at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, no Thai or Southeast Asian athlete had ever won it. Boonson is also only the second sprinter to win it in the award's history, after Japan's Koji Ito, who won it in that inaugural year 28 years ago.

Two golds, two records, in Nagoya

Photo: Fernando Frazão/Agencia Brasil — CC BY 3.0 br (Wikimedia Commons)

In the men's 100m, Boonson got progressively faster through the rounds — 9.95s in the heats, then 9.91s in the semifinal, equaling the existing Asian Games record set by China's Su Bingtian at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. In the final on September 25, he went quicker still, clocking 9.90 seconds to win gold and set a new Asian Games record outright.

Two days later, on September 27, Boonson followed up in the 200m. His start was relatively moderate, but he accelerated hard around the bend and pulled clear down the home straight, crossing the line in 19.88 seconds — well ahead of silver medalist Huang Youwen of China (20.45s). That time matched the Asian continental record (not just the Asian Games mark) set by China's Xie Zhenye back in 2019, making Boonson only the second Asian sprinter ever to run that fast.

Photo: Aeltegop — CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Beyond his two individual golds, Boonson also helped Thailand's mixed 4x100m relay team to a silver medal, taking his personal haul from the Games to two golds and a silver. Just as striking: that 9.90-second final was also a new Thai national record, improving on the 9.94 seconds he had run himself at the 2025 SEA Games — and he dipped under 10 seconds twice in a single day, in both the semifinal and the final.

Measuring up to the world's best

Boonson's 9.90 seconds sits just 0.01 seconds behind American Noah Lyles' winning time of 9.89 seconds at the 2025 World Championships — an extraordinarily narrow gap for an Asian sprinter, and a sign that, at just 20, Boonson can now be mentioned in the same breath as the world's fastest, not merely the region's. Before the 100m final, his coach reportedly told him simply: "You must win — nobody will go easy on you," which Boonson said helped him settle his nerves and manage the pressure heading into the race.

Boonson has been explicit about what comes next: podium finishes at the Olympics and World Championships, a level above anything Asian or regional competition can offer.

From rising talent to continental-class sprinter

Boonson's path here wasn't a straight line. Back at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, he won 100m silver at just 17 years old, but struggled with muscle tightness during the race — a lesson that taught him that what he could control, mentally and physically, mattered more than external conditions he couldn't.

The real breakthrough came in 2025, when Boonson became the first Southeast Asian sprinter to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m, clocking a Thai national record of 9.94 seconds at the SEA Games on home soil — a time that briefly ranked 5th fastest in the world among under-20 athletes. Behind that leap was a near-total rebuild of his training under American coach Gentry Bradley ("Coach G"), who reworked his start and early acceleration mechanics.

Reflecting on his racing philosophy, Boonson has said: "We always race against ourselves, not anyone else. Just focus on doing your best and ignore what's around you." He has also acknowledged that talent alone wasn't enough to get him here: "I felt that natural talent combined with real dedication was what it took to break through a plateau."

In his own words

Speaking after learning of the MVP award upon returning to Thailand, Boonson said he felt "wonderful, and proud — I see this as an important honor, not just for myself, but on behalf of all Thai people." He added that his results in Nagoya "exceeded my own dreams, beyond what I'd set out to achieve before the competition," and pledged to keep training hard to improve further at future meets.

What's next: eyes on LA 2028

Photo: Waka777 — CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, held from September 19 to October 4, has now closed, with Thailand finishing 7th overall in the medal table before the host flag was passed on to Doha, Qatar, which stages the next edition in 2030.

Thailand's Athletics Association is reportedly working to extend Coach Gentry Bradley's contract through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics — the next major stage where fans will be watching to see how much further the 20-year-old can cut his times, having already proven he can stand toe to toe with Asia's fastest sprinters.

Thailand's team produced several other standout performances at the 2026 Asian Games, including the women's volleyball team reaching the semifinals before taking bronze, and a 690-strong squad that targeted 15 golds in Nagoya, a preview that had already flagged Boonson as one of the team's best gold-medal hopes before the Games even began. For more sport coverage, visit our sport section.