Who Is Albert Ian Delos Santos? Meet the Bronze Medalist Weightlifter at the 2026 Asian Games

Albert Ian Delos Santos made his Asian Games debut with a bronze medal and a couple of records to go with it. On September 26, the 20-year-old Filipino weightlifter placed third in the men’s 70kg division in Nagoya, Japan, after lifting 141kg in the snatch and 183kg in the clean and jerk for a 324kg total. The performance also set new junior world and junior Asian records in the clean and jerk and total lift.

Just days earlier, Ian had carried the Philippine flag into the Opening Ceremony as one of the country’s male flag bearers, alongside boxer Aira Villegas. But there’s more to his story than his latest competition—here are five things to know about the record-breaking weightlifter.

Weightlifting has been part of Ian’s life since childhood. His parents, Alvin and Diwa Delos Santos, were both national weightlifters, with his mother later becoming a coach. His sister, Dessa, has also represented the Philippines in weightlifting. The Philippine News Agency previously reported that Albert joined the youth team in 2020, making his way into international competition while still in his early teens.

His father Alvin was also his longtime coach and played an important role in his development as an athlete. Alvin passed away from liver cancer in March 2026 at the age of 55, just months before Ian’s Asian Games debut.

Ian has spent much of his young career collecting international medals and junior records. In 2025, he won gold in the clean and jerk and silver in the total at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. Later that year, he made his senior international debut at the World Championships in Førde, Norway, where he set a junior world record in the clean and jerk.

He followed that with a gold-medal performance at the 2026 IWF Junior World Championships in Egypt, where he set another junior world record with a 187kg clean and jerk. In August, he also swept the junior 70kg division at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships, setting junior Asian and world marks along the way.

Ian entered the Asian Games after losing his father and coach earlier in the year. Speaking to Olympics.com, he recalled how Alvin encouraged him to continue training even after receiving his cancer diagnosis.

The loss followed him into the 2026 Junior World Championships in Egypt. Ian suffered a back injury during his final preparations and struggled to walk in the days before the competition, but ultimately competed and won gold. After his final lift, he brought out a photograph of his father while celebrating on the podium. He later told Olympics.com that the victory helped him process the grief.

“I didn't want to waste the opportunity. This is what my father would have wanted, and he wanted me to win,” he said. “It healed me in a sense, winning in Egypt, that I got to come back from such a setback.”

Ian has looked up to Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo since he was young. He calls her “Ate Hidi” and has trained at the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Academy in Jalajala, Rizal, alongside coach Julius Naranjo, Hidi’s husband and coach.

Speaking to Olympics.com, Ian said he admires Hidi for her perseverance. “With Ate Hidi, it's that sense of perseverance despite everything. She has that mental eliteness that I really admire,” he said, recalling their time training together for the 2025 SEA Games.

He also remembered seeing Hidi return to her old weightlifting shoes during training. “I saw her prime self when she pulled up her old shoes—it was like a full-circle moment,” he told the website.

Away from weightlifting, Ian has been exploring videography as a creative outlet. He told Olympics.com that he started experimenting with it after realizing he was “really bad at drawing as a kid.” He added, “It helps me to reset outside of my sport, relax and take everything slow.”

He also keeps a relaxed attitude toward competition. “I'm just a kid in such a world where I’ve got to work hard to get what I want,” he said. “I'll have fun, I'll yell, I will laugh. I'll do everything that I can to let everybody know I'm having fun… I just want to be an explosion and blast through the competition. I know that my other competitors won't be affected by the explosion, but still I'm letting them know someone's having fun and that's me.”