The Philippines hasn’t won a gold in the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo yet. It will still leave a mark anyway.
Through the first week of the IWF World Weightlifting Championships, the Filipino delegation has two bronze medals, both in the snatch, and a 20-year-old who rewrote the junior record books. That puts the Philippines ninth on the medal table with two bronzes, and the campaign doubles as an early step toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Ramos Sisters Open the Medal Account
It started with the younger Ramos. The 20-year-old Rose Jean Ramos, a Zamboanga City native, hoisted 86 kg in the women’s 49kg snatch to finish third behind North Korea’s Ri Song Gum (92 kg) and China’s Zhao Jinhong (91 kg). She struggled in the clean and jerk, failing twice at 100 kg and finishing ninth with 95 kg, which left her fifth overall with a total of 181 kg.
Rosegie Ramos followed two days later. She took snatch bronze in the 53kg class with a 97-kg lift, just behind China’s Zhang Haiqin and the United States’ Miranda Ulrey, who both lifted 98 kg. She added 114 kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 211 kg. That snatch mark is a big jump from her 93-kg best at the Asian Games, where she finished fourth.
The 49kg class isn’t an Olympic weight for Los Angeles. But Rose Jean can carry her ranking points up to the 53kg division. And unlike Paris, where the top 10 in each class got slots, LA 2028 will offer them to only the top eight.
Albert Ian Delos Santos Breaks Records, Misses the Podium
It’s hard to be more impressive in fourth place. Delos Santos missed the podium in the men’s 70kg by a narrow margin, finishing fourth in all three categories, but he lifted 144 kg in the snatch and 187 kg in the clean and jerk for a 331-kg total, resetting his own junior world records in the latter two. The previous marks of 183 kg and 324 kg came at the Asian Games, where he won bronze.
He did it against the very best in the IWF World Weightlifting Championships. North Korea’s Pak Pyol won with a world-record 355 kg, and it was only the 20-year-old’s third senior competition. His reaction was honest: “I was the youngest, the smallest, the skinniest in the field… for the first time ever I felt fear,” Delos Santos said. He is expected to move up to 75kg for the IWF qualifying event in Qatar in December. The 70kg class isn’t an Olympic weight either, so that move matters.
Elreen Ando Finishes Ninth
Two-time Olympian Elreen Ando finished ninth in the women’s 61kg with a 227-kg total on Sunday, placing 13th in the snatch with 99 kg and eighth in the clean and jerk with 128 kg. It came on her 28th birthday. She finished just one kg ahead of Thailand’s Suratwadee Yodsarn, but also just outside the top eight that LA 2028 will reward.
What’s Next
Kristel Macrohon is the last Filipino to compete in the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in the women’s 69kg, and she was scheduled for the week after the earlier events. She will try to add to a tally that has already exceeded modest expectations.
The takeaway? Two medals, two junior world records, and one very young lifter who now knows what fear feels like at that level. That’s a good start to a long road to Los Angeles.
