FIRST, it was John Ceniza in the men’s 61kg.

Then, Elreen Ando in the women’s 59kg.

Now comes Vanessa Sarno.

Sarno, dubbed as the “Wonder Girl” from Tagbilaran, Bohol, made history by becoming the third Filipino weightlifter to book a ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France later this year.

The 20-year-old Sarno maintained her fifth-place position in the Olympic qualification tournament of the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand over the weekend.

Sarno, one of several weightlifters hoping to follow the footsteps of Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, finished with a total lift of 245 kgs — a record-breaking 110kg in snatch and 145kg in clean & jerk.

Her best performance of 249kg in the World Cup in Doha last December also puts her inside the Top 10 that would automatically earn a ticket to the Paris event scheduled July 26-August 11.

The entry of Sarno also assured the Philippines of three entries in weightlifting in almost four decades.

The last time the country sent three weightlifters to the Olympics was in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, when Gregorio Colonia, Samuel Alegada and Ramon Solis made it.

No Filipino weightlifter made it to the Olympics since then until the then 17-year-old Diaz was selected as a wildcard entry in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Diaz-Naranjo, who captured the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, was hoping to qualify for a fifth straight Olympics before she was edged out by Ando.

Ando, the 25-year-old pride of Cebu City, posted a personal-best 228-kilogram total — 100 kilos in snatch and 128 kilos in clean and jerk — to finish seventh in the women’s -59kg.

That was enough to upstage Diaz-Naranjo, who finished 11th overall with a 222kg total after posting 99kg in snatch and 123kg in clean and jerk.

Based on Olympics rule, only one athlete per country can qualify in any weight division.

This will be the second Olympics for Ando, who competed in the 64kg event in Tokyo, where she placed seventh.