Vanessa Sarno hopes fate smiles upon her in Paris Olympics

At this point, the toughest opponent that Vanessa Sarno may ever face is, probably, herself.

Twice in the past, the 20-year-old weightlifting prodigy seen as the next Hidilyn Diaz has beaten and surpassed records that she also made after smashing marks in the regional and global levels.

In her much-awaited debut at the Paris Olympics, Sarno is looking to replicate her previous successes and deliver a medal for the Philippines.

The future is now

In an interview with the Olympics website last year, Sarno stressed: "I just need to beat me."

That is exactly what transpired when she set foot at the stage of the Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, lifting — while grinning from ear to ear — 105 kilograms in snatch to shatter the mark she set during her previous SEA Games gold medal run in Vietnam. 

She also needed to lift just 120kg in clean and jerk for a total lift of 125 kg and cop back-to-back titles in the women's 71kg division. 

Almost a year later, Sarno broke that record, this time with an Olympic berth at stake. 

Sarno flashed a remarkable performance during the  IWF World Cup in Thailand last April, where she registered 110kg in snatch to beat her previous mark before hoisting 135kg in clean and jerk and finishing fifth in the competition, formalizing her entry to the Paris Games. 

Sarno, who joins fellow weightlifters Elreen Ando and John Ceniza in the quadrennial event, also boasts two medals from the Asian Championships, copping the gold in 2020 and silver in 2023, showing what she can do more in the future. 

Sarno: A medal favorite? 

Now ranked no. 5 in the world, Sarno may be one of the favorites to win a medal but that doesn't mean the road to podium will be easy for the Filipina bet. 

She will get to compete toe-to-toe with Angie Palacios of Ecuador and Chen Wen-huei of Chinese Taipei, both of whom saw action in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where the latter even won a medal by capturing the bronze medal in the women's 64kg division that Ando also competed in. 

The bemedalled Palacios, meanwhile, parades a plethora of medals, including three gold medals in the Pan American Championships while also seizing a silver and bronze in World Championships. 

World no. 2 Olivia Reeves of USA will also strut her stuff after emerging as the top player during the IWF World Cup, where the American athlete lifted a total of 268kg (118kg from snatch and 150kg from clean and jerk). 

However, like Sarno said, the only opponent that matters is herself. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News