Victor Mendez from Mexico struck gold with the last lift of the evening, Turkmenistan had three athletes on the podium and the Philippines kept up its run of success on the second day of the IWF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Mendez, who was fifth at halfway in the men’s 60kg contest, was the only medal contender to make all three clean and jerks. His final attempt at 142kg got a majority verdict from the referees and he edged clear of three athletes clustered within 2kg of his winning total.
Victor Mendez (MEX)
One of them was Evgenii Butuzov, who had a good chance to become Russia’s first officially recognised world champion in five years. Butuzov had a lift to spare when he drew level with the long-time leader Atabek Azamatov from Turkmenistan. He missed it and finished on 111-138-249 in third place.
Azamatov was second on 116-133-249, behind Mendez on 108-142-250. That final lift by Mendez knocked the snatch silver medallist Kirby Alasas down to fourth place, ending the Philippines’ 100 per cent record of a medal on total in every session over the first two days. Mustafa Ciger from Turkiye took clean and jerk silver.
Men’s 60kg podium
Youngsters who were inspired by Olympic medallists filled the podium in the women’s 53kg.
At the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, Hidilyn Diaz became the Philippines’ first Olympic champion in any sport and Polina Guryeva earned Turkmenistan’s first ever medal, a silver. Since then, both nations have developed strong teams of youth and junior weightlifters.
Ogulshat Amanova (TKM)
When Ogulshat Amanova won, with team-mate Shabnam Kerimbayeva third, Turkmenistan had athletes on the podium on total for the fifth straight time at the World Youths. Azamatov’s later silver underlined the Turkmenistan teenagers’ prowess.
Amanova was winning for the first time since she took the 2023 youth world title at 45kg aged 13, although she has performed consistently well since then. She improved her best total by 4kg in making five from six for 86-105-191.
The Philippines – where Diaz has set up her own academy and started teaching weightlifting at university – has also had plenty of teenage champions in recent years. The team’s results in Cali have been highly impressive: four out of five in the first two days have finished in the top three, and Alasas was desperately close to making it five.
Jhodie Peralta (PHI)
Jhodie Peralta, who was second behind Amanova, has publicly credited Diaz as her inspiration. She is a product of the Olympic champion’s hometown training facility in Zamboanga, as is the 48kg champion on Monday, Alexsandra Diaz – the Tokyo champion’s niece.
“I’m so happy to see youngsters with a barbell, to see how they love the sport,” Hidilyn Diaz said recently when she was pushing for weightlifting to be taken up by more schools. “I’m using my status as an Olympic champion to spread the sport in the Philippines.”
Peralta failed with her final attempts in snatch and clean and jerk, finishing 85-103-188. Kerimbayeva needed her final clean and jerk to avoid a bombout and she made it for 83-105-188 ahead of Arianye Echandia from Venezuela.
Echandia failed with a youth world record attempt at 108kg in clean and jerk, and took bronze in that discipline and snatch, but dropped to fourth on total on 84-103-187.
By Brian Oliver
Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia
