Alexsandra Diaz put on a show on Monday at the 2026 IWF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia. But she wasn’t the only one. Teammate Jay-R Colonia also introduced himself to the world stage as potentially another name to watch.
On the day Diaz swept all three gold medals in the women’s 48-kilogram class and shattered two world records, Jay-R Colonia kept the Philippine medal rush going with a three-medal performance in the men’s 56-kilogram category—further proof that Philippine weightlifting is not experiencing a moment. It is experiencing a movement.
Colonia posted a best snatch of 109 kilograms for a silver, a best clean and jerk of 140 kilograms for gold, and a combined total of 249 kilograms across his lifts for another silver. With his efforts, the young man collected medals in all three categories and added to what is shaping up as one of the country’s finest youth weightlifting campaigns in recent memory.
The haul isn’t new. Colonia had previously won bronze in the boys’ 56-kilogram clean and jerk at the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain and three medals—two golds and a silver—at the 2025 IWF World Youth Championships. Incidentally, Diaz also won three medals in the latter tournament, but at the 45kg division. This means both athletes arrived at the World Youth Championships in Colombia with extensive international podium experience behind them. Both delivered on the big stage—again.
That is not a coincidence. That is a pipeline.
Philippine Weightlifting Ready for Its Golden Era?
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella has been explicit about the destination these results are building toward—the Asian Games and, ultimately, the Olympics. Diaz’s two world records on day one established the ceiling. Colonia’s three-medal performance on the very same day reinforced the depth. The Philippines did not send one prodigy to Cali. It sent a generation.
Weightlifting has long held a special place in Philippine sports history—Hidilyn Diaz’s Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021 was the country’s first in any sport, a moment that reframed what Filipino athletes could achieve on the world’s biggest stage. Alexsandra Diaz’s emergence as a potential heir to that legacy, combined with the kind of supporting cast that Jay-R Colonia represents, suggests the sport’s golden era in the Philippines may only just be beginning.
The medals keep coming from Cali. Back home, the excitement is building. Philippine weightlifting has the standard, the talent, and now the depth to sustain something special.
The foundation is being laid—one lift at a time.
