Vanessa Sarno demonstrated dominance by winning back-to-back gold medals in the women’s under-71 kg category at the Southeast Asian Games. The competition took place on Monday at the Olympic Complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Sarno achieved a total lift of 225 kg.
This victory marks the Philippines’ second gold medal in weightlifting, following Elreen Ando’s impressive performance and record-breaking win in the women’s under-59 kg category.
With this win, the Philippines has now secured a total of 47 gold medals, only five shy of the 52 gold medals earned at the 2021 Hanoi Games.
The 19-year-old defending champion needed only one successful attempt at 95 kg in the snatch to surpass Thailand’s Thipwara Chontavin, who required a second try at the same weight.
Sarno then increased the weight to 100 kg and later to a new Games record of 105 kg.
This weight was one kilogram higher than her previous Games record set in Hanoi last year and two kilograms below her personal best of 107 kg achieved just a few days ago in the Jinju Asian Championships.
In the clean and jerk, Sarno effortlessly lifted 120 kg.
At that point, she decided not to attempt any further lifts since she had already secured the gold medal.
Chontavin finished in a distant second place with a total score of 208 kg. Meanwhile, Restu Anggi from Indonesia narrowly edged out Vietnam’s Thi My Le Nam for the bronze medal with scores of 206 kg and 205 kg, respectively.
