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Southeast Asian Games – Weightlifting – Olympic Taekwondo Hall, Phnom Penh, Cambodia – May 15, 2023 Vanessa Palomar Sarno of the Philippines reacts in the women’s 71kg category Reuters/Cindy Liu
Vanessa Sarno knows the exact numbers for a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Although the numbers are daunting, Sarno has remained true to his beliefs.
The 20-year-old former Asian champion is awaiting her turn on the mat in the women's 71kg category on Sunday at the International Weightlifting Federation World Cup in Phuket, Thailand.
“My goals for this tournament are to get 110 (kg) in the snatch and 143 (kg) in the clean and jerk,” Sarno told the Inquirer. Her best lift to date is a total of 249, and she is 4km away from her goal.
One happy thought for Sarno, however, is the need to maintain his Olympic ranking at the Phuket World Championships, the last qualifying event for the Paris Summer Games.
“Right now I'm running fifth, I just have to maintain it,” Sarno said. He will be accompanying fellow weightlifter Rosie Ramos in the French capital in July.
The top 10 in her weight class will advance to Paris after the Phuket competition.
Ramos placed eighth overall in the women's 49kg category after competing in the World Cup on Monday, becoming the seventh Filipino to qualify for this year's quadrennial world championship.
She will join pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnasts Carlos Yuro and Alea Finnegan, and boxers Eumil Marcial, Ira Villegas and Nessie Petecio.
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Besides Sarno, John Febouard Ceniza (men's 61kg) and Olympic gold medalist Hidilin Diaz Naranjo (women's 59kg) are also vying for an Olympic spot.
“People say it's completely unexpected that I'm already competing at an elite level. I don't put pressure on myself. I consider all my past failures to be learning experiences,” he said. said Sarno, who trained at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex during his qualification period.
At the age of 17, Sarno won the gold medal in the 71kg category at the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and went on to win the same weight class in the 2021 Vietnam and 2023 Cambodia Games.
She won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Jinju, South Korea last year.
“I would need a total of 260 to 265 to win a medal in Paris. That's a lot of weight that I need to improve on,” Sarno said.
At the last world championships held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, China's Liao Guifang took first place with 273 points, Ecuador's Angie Palacios took silver (255 points), and USA's Olivia Reeves took third place (253 points). point).
“I can start planning again on how to get into the top three at the Olympics. For now, my focus is to maintain my current ranking,” Sarno said. INQ
