ALBERT Delos Santos shattered his own world junior record on Monday despite competing with a grieving heart.
Delos Santos ruled the men's 71kg of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt in record-breaking fashion, two months since the death of his father Alvin due to liver cancer.
READ Delos Santos earns Hidilyn praise as silver glitters like gold
The 19-year-old Delos Santos reset his own world record with a lift of 187 kg in the clean and jerk, improving by 1kg the previous mark that he set when he captured the silver medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Chonburi, Thailand.
He lifted 139 in the snatch for a 326 total to win the title,
In an interview with IWF.net, Delos Santos, who used to be coached by his father and mom Diwa Delos Santos, admitted his death affected him in training. He paid tribute by bringing his picture during the medal ceremony.
“I deviated from my coach's percentage in training and wanted to do every lift for my dad,’’ said the younger Delos Santos, who is now coached by Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and her husband Julius Naranjo.
“It was my way of trying to get over the pain. I wore myself out, and two Saturdays ago, I injured my back. I couldn't even walk for a couple of days. I felt so bad. I was in a deep void. I had only a week to train for this and I was trembling out there, but my dad was with me all the way. This was for him.”
Diaz had anointed Delos Santos as the future of weightlifting. He is being eyed to compete at this year's Asian Games.
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