Macrohon revs up bid for Olympics slot

MANILA, Philippines —  There could be another Filipina weightlifter in this July’s Tokyo Olympics other than Hidilyn Diaz.

Kristel Macrohon, a 23-year-old gold medalist in last December’s 30th Southeast Asian Games, lived up to the hype as she copped a pair of bronze medals in the women’s 71-kilogram division of the Roma Weightlifting World Cup last Thursday, and kept her Olympics hopes alive.

Macrohon lifted a total of 209 to claim the bronze behind American Meredith Alwine, who captured the gold with a 237, and Italian Alessia Durante, who snared the silver with a 210.

She picked up another bronze in the clean and jerk with a 115.

It was a performance that boosted Macrohon’s dreams of joining Diaz, who inched closer to Tokyo when she won three gold medals in the 55kg class last Tuesday.

Macrohon would need to make it to the top 10 in her weight class in the world Olympic rankings for her to claim a spot to Tokyo.

She is ranked 18th but since Olympic rules allow only one entry per country, she is technically in 12th since there are four Americans, three Koreans, two Russians and two Colombians ahead of her.

Macrohon, however, would need to come up with another strong performance in the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan in April to have a chance of making the cut.