Nineteen-year-old Albert de los Santos of the Philippines made a stunning breakthrough after shattering a world record en route to ruling Group B of the men’s 71kg division at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Forde, Norway.
Coached by Julius Naranjo, the Zamboanga-born lifter—who previously bagged youth and junior world titles at lighter weight classes—hoisted 185kg in the clean and jerk, sparking a rousing celebration in his first appearance at a senior-level competition.
With lifts of 137kg in the snatch and 185kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 322kg, De los Santos finished eighth overall in the senior rankings. His snatch attempt was 12 kilos short of the junior world record, while his total was six kilos behind the junior world standard.
In the battle for medals, Wichuma Weerapon of Thailand emerged on top with four solid lifts of 152kg-194kg-346kg for the gold. Masanori Miyamoto of Japan, who failed on his final attempt at 195kg, settled for silver with 152kg-193kg-345kg. China’s He Yueji twice broke the snatch world record, then followed it up with another record in the total, clinching bronze with 160kg-184kg-344kg.
Among those who congratulated De los Santos was IWF president Mohammed Jalood, who lauded the young Filipino’s achievement.
“Promising to get a world record makes me sound cocky, which I’m not. But that was pretty special,” said De los Santos, who is also a business student in the Philippines. He added that his goal was to break into the top 10 and successfully hit 185kg—a milestone he achieved.
Meanwhile, in the women’s division, Olympian Elreen Ando finished fourth behind Ri Suk of North Korea, who delivered a record-breaking performance.
Ri set a new snatch world record with her third lift, then followed up by breaking the clean and jerk and total world marks, closing with 111kg-142kg-253kg. The North Korean standout finished 17kg ahead of Maude Charron, the Tokyo Olympic champion and Paris silver medalist, who tallied 236kg, and 22kg ahead of Yenny Sinisterra of Colombia, who settled for bronze.
