SEA Games: Albert Delos Santos wins silver, breaks world junior mark

VIEW: Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) 2025: Medal Tally

Philippines’ Albert Ian Delos Santos in action during the men’s 71kg weightlifting of the SEA Games 2025. –POC MEDIA POOL

CHONBURI—A silver glittered like gold in the men’s 71kg weightlifting category of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, courtesy of 19-year-old Albert Ian Delos Santos, who reset his world junior record in the process.

Delos Santos placed second to Thailand’s Wichuma Weeraphon with a total of 324kgs, capping the performance with a successful 186-kg lift in the clean and jerk at Chonburi Sports School.

He broke his previous mark of 185kgs set two months ago at the World Weightlifting Championships in Forde, Norway.

“In the middle of the clean and jerk, I was already cramping,” said Delos Santos, a second-year college student at Universidad de Zamboanga.

“But I was pleased that I was able to do six-for-six (completing all three in snatch and three in clean and jerk).”

Weeraphon took gold with 347kgs, setting a world record with a 196-kg clean and jerk.

Hidilyn Diaz, who finished fourth in the women’s 58kg earlier, later hailed the young Filipino lifter.

“He’s the future,” Diaz.