She is Emily Ibanez Guerrero, a 12-year-old weightlifter who will debut at the 2023 World Youth Championships

Emily Ibanez Guerrero is so well-known that she already has 38,000 followers on Instagram, which includes Chinese multiple world and Olympic champion Lu Xiaojun, reports insidethegames.

She competed at the provincial and national youth championships, posting a best total of 176 kilograms, but was too young for international competition before this year.

To be eligible for the youth competitions, an athlete must be between 13 and 17 years old at any point in the year in which the competition is held – an age Guerrero will be four days before the end of the year, as her birthday falls on December 27.

She will be 12 years and 86 days old on Monday when she competes, the youngest of the 270 athletes competing here, more than half of whom were born in 2006.

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Her parents are both weightlifters, Abigail Guerrero and Ciro Ibanez, and have also trained their son Brayan, as well as Emily, who is already able to lift more than 90 kilograms in the deadlift, notes Mediafax.

“She’s training well, she’s very happy, her body weight is good,” her father said.

Brayan became Canada’s first medalist at last year’s Youth Worlds when he finished third in the snatch and overall in the 73kg category.

Canada’s main medal hope is 16-year-old Ingrid Segura, who will try for a third consecutive world title in the 64kg category on Wednesday.

Athletes from Kazakhstan, whose team topped the medal table ahead of Colombia at the 2022 edition in León, Mexico, have the most participants in four of the men’s weight categories at Durres, 67kg, 73kg , 89 kg and 102 kg.

Colombia’s 73kg gold medal contender Yerasyl Saulebekov, who won last year at 67kg, recently totaled 310kg.

This performance is 1kg better than the youth world record set last year by his teammate Yedige Yemberdi, who is too old to compete here at the Ramazan Njala Sports Complex.

Based on qualified athletes and past performances, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt and Thailand will also have strong medal chances.

Asian Youth Champion Angeline Colonia is the main hope of the Philippines.

The younger sister of the Rio 2016 Olympian, Nestor Colonia, lifts 45 kg, the weight at which she set a continental record of 62 kg in the pull last year.

Ecuadorian Jessica Palacios Dajome also comes from an illustrious family of weightlifters.

The 17-year-old is the younger sister of Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Neisi Palacios Dajome and IWF World Championships medalist Angie Palacios.

Her brother German, 20, is set to compete at the Pan American Junior Championships in Colombia in May.

Another famous name appears in Italy’s team. 16-year-old Claudio Scarantino, who lifts 61kg, is the younger brother of 11-time double European and Olympic champion Mirco Scarantino.

Their father Giovanni competed in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics.