FIVE Filipino athletes—Angelina Colonia, Rosalinda Faustino, Prince Delos Santos, Eron Borres and Albert Ian De los Santos—collected seven gold medals to dominate the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Youth Championships in Durres, Albania, over the weekend.
The weightlifters, whose average age is 15, also scooped four silver and one bronze medals to help emphasize the growth of the sport following Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo’s historic first Philippine Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021.
Colonia, 16, ruled the girls’ 45-kg class snatch and claimed silver for her total lift, while Faustino, 15, captured gold in clean and jerk and silver in total lift in the girls’ 55-kg division.
Colonia is a niece of head coach Gregorio Colonia and younger sister of 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympian Nestor Colonia.
Prince de los Santos, 15, won gold in snatch and total lift and silver in clean and jerk in boys’ 49 kg class, while Albert Ian de los Santos, 16, took the clean and jerk and total lift gold medals in boys’ 61 kgs.
Eron Borres, 15, clinched gold in clean and jerk and silver in total lift and added a bronze in snatch in boys’ 49 kgs.
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas secretary-general Patrick Lee said the Filipinos topped the medal tally with the 7-4-1 gold-silver-bronze haul, followed by Turkmenistan (3-3-0) and Vietnam (3-2-2) in the event that gathered athletes from 15 countries.
“It’s really a great indication that our young weightlifters have a bright future,” Lee told BusinessMirror Tuesday. “We only expected four to five medals, but we ended up with seven golds.”
