Vanessa Sarno crashed out early in the women's 71-kilogram weightlifting event of the Paris Olympics held at South Paris Arena early Saturday (PH time).
The 20-year-old tagged as next in line to 2021 Olympic champ Hidilyn Diaz failed to lift all her three attempts at 100kg in the snatch, officially a DNF (did not finish).
The Philippine weightlifting team will leave the Olympics without a medal for the first time since 2012. Diaz bagged silver in 2016 Rio de Janeiro and the country's first-ever 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 still in the thick of things despite her Round 3 struggles in women's golf.
Pagdanganan's chase for an Olympic medal took a crucial hit as she slumped in the penultimate round at Le Golf National.
From joint sixth, Pagdanganan slipped to 13th with a 1-over 73 for 214, seven shots off joint leaders Morgane Metraux of Sweden (71) and Lydia Ko of New Zealand (68).
Dottie Ardina bounced back with a 69 for joint 23rd but was farther at 217.
Although the chances of making the top thee are slim, Ardina has an opportunity to finish her Olympic debut strong.
The 26-year-old Pagdanganan finished 43rd in Tokyo while Ardina, 30, was supposed to debut in Rio de Janeiro but the Zika virus forced her out.
US ends weightlifting drought
Back at South Paris Arena, 21-year-old student Olivia Reeves gave the Uited States its first weightlifting gold in 24 years.
Reeves totaled 262kg while setting a new Olympic record in the snatch at 117kg in Sarno's division.
Reeves and Romania's Loredana Toma matched the old Olympic record at 115kg in only their second lifts while Ecuador's Angie Palacios first broke the record by lifting 116kg in her third snatch attempt.
Toma also cleared 117kg but following a jury review of her third attempt, her lift was nullified.
Toma likewise failed to lift all her three clean-and-jerk attempts, all with varying weights, in the hopes of making a late dash to the podium. Like Sarno, she was declared DNF.
Palacios, who totaled 256kg, thought she had the silver, but Colombian Mari Sanchez cleared a high-risk 145kg lift for a 257 total to steal the medal, handing Palacios the bronze instead.
Reeves tried to match her personal best of 150kg to set another Olympic record, but she failed to complete the jerk. (PNA)
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