Alexsandra Ann Diaz opened the Philippines’ campaign at the 2026 IWF World Youth Championships by dominating the girls’ 48kg division, taking gold in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the combined total during the first day of competition in Cali, Colombia.
The teenager put up 77 kilograms in the snatch and 98 in the clean and jerk for a 175-kilogram total, a performance that cleared the rest of the field. Two of those marks entered the record books: her 98-kilogram clean and jerk and her 175-kilogram total both stand as new Youth world records, according to results compiled by Weightlifting House, which tracks the meet’s podiums.
Diaz needed all three of her snatch attempts to reach 77, opening at 73 and climbing steadily before nailing the final lift. She then closed at 98 in the clean and jerk and pushed for 100, a bid that would have widened her record margin, though the attempt was ruled no lift.
Romania’s Maria Lorint finished second with a 164-kilogram total, while Venezuela’s Osorio Del Valle rounded out the podium at 162. The gap between Diaz and her nearest rival stretched to 11 kilograms.
The result continues a family lineage that has become one of the more recognizable in Philippine weightlifting. Diaz trains at the gym her aunt, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, built in Mampang, Zamboanga City, and she has steadily worked her way up the weight categories since first breaking through at the youth level.
She arrived in Cali having already collected world youth titles at a lighter class, and moved up to 48kg over the past year as she matured physically. The championships in Colombia mark the final edition of the youth worlds before the sport transitions to a new set of bodyweight categories.
The Philippine delegation carried medal hopes across several divisions in the girls’ and boys’ brackets, with the squad also fielding lifters in the 44kg, 53kg, 56kg, 69kg and 77kg classes over the course of the week-long meet.
