MANILA – Vanessa Sarno crashed out early into the women’s 71kg weightlifting event of the Paris Olympics at the South Paris Arena early Saturday (Manila time).
The 20-year-old prodigy, tagged as the next in line to 2021 Olympic champ Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, failed to lift all her three attempts at 100 kg in the snatch portion, becoming the first person to be eliminated from the contest.
After Sarno’s elimination, the Philippine weightlifting team will leave the Olympics without a medal for the first time since 2012, just before Naranjo won silver in 2016 and the country’s first-ever Olympic gold five years later.
With Sarno bombing out, the Philippines’ last hope for another Olympic medal this year after two golds from gymnast Carlos Yulo and bronzes from boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas is golfer Bianca Pagdanganan, who is virtually still in the thick of things despite her Round 3 struggles earlier into the Philippine wee hours.
Pagdanganan’s chase for a Paris Olympic medal took a crucial hit as she slumped in the penultimate round of the women’s golf event at the Le Golf National.
Entering the day just two strokes behind third place, Pagdanganan faltered at possibly the worst time, especially with some golfers waxing hot on what they call the “moving day.”
Pagdanganan finished her front nine even as she hoped to put up a third straight outburst in the back nine, but bogeys on Holes 12 and 17 hurt her cause.
Despite finishing the round with a birdie on Hole 18, the one-over-par 73 for Round 3 dropped her to a tie for 13th place with Canada’s Brooke Henderson, Germany’s Esther Henseleit, and Slovenia’s Pia Babnik at two-under-par 214.
Thanks to a hot moving day stint, the United States’ Rose Zhang and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita moved up to a tie for third with seven-under-par 209, five strokes ahead of Pagdanganan and the rest of the logjam for 13th.
It would now take Pagdanganan to wax hot in the final round later Saturday and for Zhang, Yamashita, and even joint leaders Morgane Metraux of Switzerland and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko to struggle badly for the top Filipina golfer to make the podium.
The gold is suddenly up for grabs after world No. 22 Ko sizzled anew to force a tie for first with Metraux at nine-under-par 207.
Ko, who was at even par 72 on Day 1, was on target for the second straight round, finishing with a four-under-par 68 for the day.
After going six-under-par 66 on Day 2, Metraux struggled in the back nine, starting the second half of her stint with three bogeys in the first four holes before bouncing back with a birdie on Hole 14.
An eagle on Hole 18 kept her in first place but Ko now joined her at the top.
Meanwhile, Dottie Ardina continued to improve from her erratic start as she went three-under-par 69 for the day to put her up to one-over-par 217, good for 23rd place.
Although the chances of making the Top 3 are still slim, Ardina has an opportunity to finish her Olympic debut strong to give her more morale boost as she continues her pro journey.
Sarno’s competitor breaks US weightlifting drought
Back at the Paris South Arena, for the first time in 24 years, an American won a weightlifting gold as Olivia Reeves ruled in Sarno after a dominating run.
Reeves totaled 262 kg while setting a new Olympic record in the snatch at 117.
Reeves and Romania’s Loredana Toma matched the old Olympic record at 115 kg in only their second lift, while Angie Palacios first broke the record by lifting 116 in her third snatch attempt.
Toma also cleared 117 kg in the naked eye, but following a jury review of her third attempt, her lift was nullified, leaving Reeves all alone in cleanly lifting the barbell weight.
Worse, Toma failed to lift all her three clean-and-jerk attempts, all with varying weights in hopes of making a late dash to the podium and, like Sarno, was declared a DNF.
Palacios, who totaled 256 kg, thought she had the silver in her hands, but Colombian Mari Sanchez cleared a high-risk, high-reward 145kg lift for a 257 total to steal the medal, handing Palacios the bronze instead.
Reeves tried to match her personal best of 150 kg to set another Olympic record, but she failed to complete the jerk. (PNA)
