Nagoya: Puripol Boonson won the Asian Games men’s 100m gold on Friday in 9.90 seconds, breaking his own Games record to become Thailand’s sprint champion and cap a remarkable 24 hours in which he twice lowered the continental Games mark.

The 20-year-old had already rewritten the Asian Games record with 9.91 seconds in the semifinal, but found another 0.01 seconds in the final to produce a new personal best and retain his place at the top of the Asian sprinting landscape.

Boonson’s victory completes a rapid transformation from Asian Games silver medallist to continental champion. At the 2023 Hangzhou Games, he was just 17 when he finished second in the 100m in 10.02 seconds.

Three years later, there was no repeat of the silver.

Boonson entered Friday’s final after running 9.95 seconds in Thursday’s heats, before lowering the Games record to 9.91 in the semifinal. He then produced his fastest run of the competition when it mattered most, crossing the line in 9.90.

The time improved his own Games record, Thai national record and personal best.

It also marked another step in the rapid development of a sprinter who has spent the last few years repeatedly lowering the standards for Thai and Southeast Asian sprinting.

Boonson made history in December 2025 when he ran 9.94 seconds at the SEA Games in Bangkok, becoming the first sprinter from Southeast Asia to break the 10-second barrier. The performance also established a new Thai national record.

His progression has not been limited to the 100m.

Boonson is also the Thai national record holder in the 200m, having clocked 20.03 seconds at the Taiwan Athletics Open in June. The performance underlined his ability to compete across both sprint distances and placed him among the leading young sprinters in Asia.

His international breakthrough came at a remarkably young age.

At the 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, a 16-year-old Boonson finished fourth in the 100m after running a world U18 best of 10.09 seconds in the semifinal.

Two years later, he went a step further at the World U20 Championships, winning silver in the 100m and becoming the first Thai athlete to win a medal at the championships.

The results have made Boonson one of the most prominent young sprinters in the region, but his Asian Games campaign in Nagoya offered a different challenge. This time, he arrived with an established reputation and the expectation of fighting for gold.

He delivered.

The victory also carries significance for Thai athletics. Boonson has ended a long wait for an individual men’s track and field gold medal for Thailand at the Asian Games.

Thailand’s previous individual athletics golds came at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, when Suchart Jairsuraparp won the men’s 100m and Usanee Laopinkarn took the women’s 200m title.

Boonson has now added his name to that list, 48 years later.

His victory also keeps alive the possibility of a sprint double in Nagoya. Boonson is expected to compete in the 200m, where he holds the Thai national record and has established himself as one of Asia’s leading performers.

But the 100m was the immediate objective, and he made it count.

The progression across the rounds tells much of the story: 9.95 in the heats, 9.91 in the semifinal, and 9.90 in the final.

Each race was faster than the one before it.

Three years ago, Boonson left the Asian Games with a silver medal and the experience of competing on one of the continent’s biggest stages.

On Friday, he returned to that stage and finished at the top of the podium.

At 20, he is now a SEA Games champion, World U20 medallist, Thai national record holder and Asian Games champion.

And in Nagoya, Puripol Boonson has added another record to his growing list — one that belongs to him twice.

The Asian Games 100m champion is now a 9.90-second man.