MANILA – Filipino weightlifter Albert Ian Delos Santos was carrying something heavier than the weights when he competed in the IWF Junior World Championships in Egypt earlier this month.
Last March, two months before the competition, Delos Santos lost his father, mentor and long-time coach Alvin due to liver cancer.
The 19-year-old admitted the grief was overwhelming, and it spilled over to his preparation for the competition.
"It was a lot of mental stuff. Mental battle I had to do in the process as well. Well, with my father passing, I just had to go along with the flow and eyeball everything despite the grief. At the same time, I was training to hide the grief to the point that I hurt myself," he told ABS-CBN News in an exclusive interview.
"I injured myself. And I had to start from scratch. Sorry, coach. I had to deviate from the program because I felt so much grief back home. I didn't even mind the pain until it got worse," Delos Santos shared.
READ: Albert delos Santos sets new junior world record, strikes golds at IWF Worlds
In 2024, the Zamboanga City native was in a similar situation – injuring his back two days before a tournament – but this time the pain was more than just physical.
For Delos Santos, he had to face a tough decision -- to continue or sit this one out.
"It was so bad to the point I couldn't even walk properly without pain. And to the point that I thought I couldn't compete. I thought I might sit this one out. But I was thinking, this is going to be my last junior world, so I might as well go out with a bang," he said.
"And yun sabi ko kay mama, 'wait lang 'ma.' Because she was asking if continue pa. Because we were still processing the papers to go to Egypt. Sabi ko wait lang. Let me sit this one out. And let me handle this on my own," Delos Santos added.
The 19-year-old said the back injury served as the turning point for him to realize he had to step back, slow down and take things one at a time.
Instead of bearing the weight of his grief on his shoulders, Delos Santos chose to use his dad's memory as motivation to lift himself up.
"All I could think of was my dad. I was just thinking about what he told me at that time. I know for sure he would just encourage me. Because back then, when I had this injury, he just reassured me," Delos Santos said.
After one week, Delos Santos was on the road to recovery and training again in time for his final competition in the junior level.
"It was such a hard recovery for me as well. But for me to recover in just one week, it goes to show how much I can put into one thing as long as I focus and trust the process on it. Sometimes it catches me, and it really amazes me as well," he said.
Coach Julius Naranjo lauded Delos Santos for his resilience and perseverance, but they were racing against time to get him back on track.
"I think Ian is a different type of athlete. He's on a different level... Basically, it just took a lot of patience. Adjusting the program to make sure he can perform at his best. Of course, it was not easy. There were a lot of things weighing against us. We understood our goal," Naranjo said.
"I wanted to commemorate Coach Alvin. He's one of the few coaches that really believes in me. And trusted me to take Ian to the next level. Of course, I had to do this for him. Ian has been training really hard for this. He deserves it all," he shared.
One of the first things Naranjo told Delos Santos to do was to lessen his screen time, something the 20-year-old admitted was not easy.
"I knew he was stressed about the pain. I wanted him to lower his phone usage so that he lessens the amount of anxiety. There's a lot of proven science that has shown that lessening phone time, screen time, or social media scrolling before training proves better. I think it was a testament to that. I'm very proud of him for being able to sacrifice that," Naranjo said.
"It took a lot of compromise for us but he understands now why I limited him on his phone. Because that's the only thing I can control. We cannot control the injury. We cannot control the current timeline. What we can control is what we can manage. And I think it proved to be very beneficial," he added.
TURNING GRIEF INTO GOLD
Albert Ian Delos Santos celebrates after winning gold at the IWF Junior World Championships. Handout/International Weightlifting FederationFast forward to the IWF Junior Worlds in Egypt, Delos Santos said it was extremely nerve-wracking for him given everything he was dealing with outside the competition.
Things seemed to weigh heavier for him after he missed his first attempt in snatch.
"Marami na nag-panic. To the point si ate Haidie [Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz] pumunta sa warm-up area. Bigla nalang nakita ko si ate Haidie nasa side, yung mom ko sinasabi kaya mo yan... Ako nagpa-panic na rin, sila nagpa-panic so I had to pull through," he said.
"At the same time, I didn't want to push it too much. Because I was still thinking of the injury," the 20-year-old said.
The weight was partially lifted from Delos Santos' shoulder after he lifted 139kg in snatch, his new competition personal record.
Despite the uncertainty and longer wait time, Delos Santos ruled the 71kg division after lifting 175kg in clean and jerk, assuring him a gold medal.
But the 20-year-old took it a step further, successfully lifting 187kg to set a new juniors world record, beating his previous record of 186kg.
FROM 2025: 19-year-old Albert Delos Santos sets junior world record at IWF World
Delos Santos dedicated the gold and the glory to his late father, who he felt made things lighter for him on the world stage.
"After everything, there was a lot of excitement. My face was intense. My happiness. It was my first time seeing him tear up. That time, I was like, Coach, you're crying?," he said.
"Then mom cried. Mom gave me a picture of my dad. I showed it around. And yeah, it was really lots of emotions because I was the last one to compete. And the team was relying on me to get the gold and sing the Lupang Hinirang for the awarding," Delos Santos said.
Even with all his achievements in the junior level, the 20-year-old is not letting them get to his head, as he prepares to enter the seniors division.
"[I] gotta take it humbly. And overall, [I'm] so happy and relieved. Very relieved. After everything, very relieved. I just crashed in my bed, in my hotel bed. The sigh of relief after was just the best," he said.
Naranjo believes Delos Santos has what it takes to get to a higher level, following his triumph as a junior weightlifter.
"Ian has I think a lot to improve on especially in the snatch. He has a really elite clean and jerk for his age but I think we're still really lacking in the snatch. It will take a little bit more time but I think I'm hoping in the next few months we'll have more time together," he said.
"I'm hoping by the time he goes up in body weight, the clean and jerk will also go up, so that also means the standards will go up. So it's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I think the next thing also that we plan to implement for Ian is sports psychology," Naranjo added.
READ: Record-setting Delos Santos seen as future of PH weightlifting
While it remains up for discussion what's next for Delos Santos, one major event at the top of his agenda is the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in September.
After getting the gold, Delos Santos took a quick break before returning to training at the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Academy in Jalajala, Rizal.
As he looked back on his hard-fought achievement, the Zamboanga City native could not help but think of his father and how he's fulfilling their dreams one step at a time.
"He'd be jumping for joy. I remember a couple of days ago, my sister sent me a screen record back when I won in Peru. I saw him being happy. It's just making me miss him even more," Delos Santos said.
"I love doing this for the family at the same time. When I was a kid, this was basically my childhood. And to be at this level where my seniors were, it was like a dream come true for little Ian. He wouldn't believe me if I'd go back in time and tell them this," he added.