Lima, Day 1: World records and glory for Brazil and Japan, and double gold for Philippines
There were three world records on a busy opening day of the 2025 World Youth and Junior Championships in Lima, Peru, where the two competitions were staged simultaneously on two platforms for the first time. Brazil had its first global champion and first female world record holder when 14-year-old Isanelly Da Silva overcame a shaky start to win the youth 40kg title in style. Isanelly da Silva (BRA) Kotaro Tomari from Japan claimed junior world records in snatch and total as he turned the tables on last year’s winner K Duong from Vietnam at 55kg. The Philippines won two youth titles, women’s 45kg and men’s 49kg, China took the junior women’s 45kg and the 17-year-old Moldovan Danu Secrieru had his second big success of the month when he won the youth 55kg. Da Silva, from Rio de Janeiro, made an impressive recovery after failing with her first two snatch attempts. “That made me a little bit sad, but I was always thinking about records and I knew I would make the third one,” she said. She took the clean and jerk youth world record in making 57-77-134, finishing 1kg short of the world record on total. Da Silva won the Pan American youth title on her only previous international appearance. Kotaro Tomari (JPN) “Isanelly has so much mental strength,” said Brazil’s national coach Dragos Doru Storica. “She had me worried after two failures but said, ‘It’s OK, don’t worry.’ We had three targets here – to win on total, to win clean and jerk gold and to set a world record. She delivered all three so it’s a great day for Brazil.” Althea Bacaro from the Philippines was second on 58-72-130 and Jyoshna Sabar from India third on 56-72-128. Ecrin Naz Sahin from Turkiye won snatch silver on 57kg. The youngest athlete in the Championships was close to winning medals. Thaira Realpe from Ecuador, who was 12 last November, was fourth in clean and jerk and total on 55-70-125. Men 49kg Youths The top two finishers both failed with youth world record attempts. Winner Jay Colonia from the Philippines was close to making 126kg, which would have taken the clean and jerk record from Vietnam’s Do Tu Tung. “I’d never made more than 123 in training, but I nearly did it,” said Colonia, who started lifting aged 10. “It was my first international competition so I was a little bit nervous, but I really enjoyed it.” Jay Colonia (PHI) Colonia, 16, made 94-121-215 ahead of Christian Di Maria from Italy on 99-115-214. Di Maria had already won snatch gold when he failed with a world record attempt at 101kg. Harsaabardhan Sahu from India was third across the board on 87-110-197. Men 55kg Youths and Juniors K Duong, 17, had won all six of his previous competitions and was favourite to make it seven in the Juniors, but Tomari made all three snatches – including that world record 123kg – to build an unassailable lead of 10kg. He took the title on 123-143-266 and was thrown up in the air by his team-mates after the medal presentations. In last year’s World Juniors, K Duong - described in his home media as “the bright new face of Vietnamese weightlifting” - had finished 6kg clear of Tomari. This time he had his worst snatch performance in two years, making only his opener. K Duong (VIE) K Duong won clean and jerk gold but declined his final lift, still 9kg behind Tomari on 113-144-257. Zhang Weiqiang from China was third on 111-136-247. The Youths winner was Danu Secrieru from Moldova, who was second at the senior European Championships in his home country 16 days ago. He was 6kg down on that total today, on 107-132-239, but that was good enough to put him ahead of his Asian challengers. Hung Van The from Vietnam was second on 105-131-236 and Mohammed Al Ojaian from Saudi Arabia third from the B Group on 103-130-233. Women 45kg Youths and Juniors Hu Yuhuan from China won the junior title by a wide margin on 74-96-170 despite failing with her final attempt in both snatch and clean and jerk. Debutant Hu, 19, was 9kg ahead of Khemika Kamnoedsri, the Asian junior champion from Thailand who made 72-89-161. Angeline Colonia from the Philippines – cousin of the men’s 49kg champion Jay Colonia - was third on 72-88-160. Ioana Miron from Romania, fourth overall, won clean and jerk silver on 90kg. Lifters from the C and B Groups were on the podium in the Youth contest. Alexsandra Diaz from the Philippines was the only A Group medallist, winning the title on 70-82-152. Her father is a cousin of the Tokyo Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz. Alexsandra Diaz (PHI) Arianye Echandia from Venezuela, cousin of the Paris Olympian Katherin Echandia, was second on 69-82-151. Her fellow B Group lifter Kateryna Malashchuk from Ukraine was third on 69-81-150. Another Venezuela athlete, Osorio Del Valle, won clean and jerk gold on 84kg from the C Group and finished fourth on total. Among the other C Group athletes were weightlifting’s youngest ever world champion and the daughter of the first woman ever to make a lift at the Olympic Games. Ivy Buzinhani from Canada made all six attempts for 65-78-143, which was 23kg more than her total two years ago when she made weightlifting history by winning the 40kg youth world title in Albania aged 12 years 264 days. She finished seventh on total. In 12th place Ani Geua Gavera from Papua New Guinea made 52-61-113, a big improvement on her previous best effort. She benefited from taking part in a pre-Championships training camp in Peru funded by the IWF. Gavera’s mother Dika Toua was first on the platform, aged 16, at Sydney 2000 when women’s weightlifting was added to the Olympic Games programme. “I’m very proud of Ani,” said Dika, who teams up with husband Willie Tamasi to coach her. “She’s been aware of weightlifting pretty much as soon as she was born. “Ani was very good at netball as well as weightlifting and we sat down and told her she needed to choose one or the other a couple of years ago. She made the right choice and went for weightlifting.” By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
