Ivy Buzinhani Brustello made five good lifts in winning the women’s 40 kilograms title on the opening day of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Youth Championships in Durres in Albania aged 12 years 264 days.

Her place in the record books may last only two days because her close friend and training partner Emily Ibanez Guerrero, who will be 12 years 86 days on the day she lifts, is a contender in the women’s 55kg on Monday (March 27).

Nobody under 13 had ever won a medal in international competition before Ivy’s victory in the women’s 40kg today, according to the OlyFanatics database that has results of 34,000 lifters dating back to 1898.

Buzinhani Brustello knew she had a chance of a medal but did not think it would be gold.

"It was an amazing experience - but I wasn’t expecting this," Buzinhani Brustello, born in Canada after her Brazilian parents moved there, said.

"I train five days a week, two hours a day, and I have always been competitive, and good at controlling the mental stress.

"My coach [Abigail Guerrero] talks to me a lot about how to handle the stress. 

"She helps me with both physical and mental training.

"I know weightlifting is not the most popular sport, but my friends at school think it’s pretty cool that I get to go to lots of places to compete."

Until this trip, Buzinhani Brustello had competed only in Canada and the United States, although she had been to training camps in Latin America.

In the space of nine months last year, she lifted in 12 competitions and improved her best total from 86kg to 112kg, before going up another 8kg yesterday.

Buzinhani Brustello practised gymnastics with her team-mate and close friend Emily Ibanez Guerrero, who lifts in the 55kg category, and she has never looked back after switching to weightlifting four years ago.

Ibanez Guerrero is even younger, as her 13th birthday is not until December, and could displace Buzinhani Brustello as weightlifting’s youngest international medallist within 48 hours.

Buzinhani Brustello will be happy if she does and will be at the Ramazan Njala Sport Complex to cheer her one.

Both girls will be back again on Wednesday (March 29) to support Brayan Ibanez, Emily’s 16-year-old brother who became Canada’s first world youth medallist last year at 73kg and lifts this time at 81kg.

All three of these high achiever’s train at the Beyond Lifting club in Montreal, run by Guerrero and her husband Ciro Ibanez, an international lifter for Cuba and a coach in France and Spain before he moved to Canada.

Guerrero said, "Ivy is such a talent, and she would be good at any sport she tried because of her mental strength."

Canada has a team of eight in Durres and the super-heavyweight Etta Mae Love is another strong medal contender.

Buzinhani Bustello speaks English, French and Portuguese, and clearly has no fears about giving media interviews, or acting as a translator for her coach.

She showed impressive technique on the platform and was calm and measured as she made personal bests across the board, failing with only one snatch attempt to take a sweep of gold medals with 53-67-120.

Melek Sahin from Turkey, third in the snatch, would have beaten Buzinhani Bustello by one kilogram had she made her final clean and jerk, but she failed and finished second on 53-66-119.

Third place went to Sabar Jyoshna from India - who at 14 is two years younger than Sahin - on 53-62-115.

The Philippines had a one-two finish in the men’s 49kg when Keil Delos Santos made all six lifts to finish 92-113-205, ahead of his team-mate Eron Borres, who took the clean and jerk gold in making 87-114-201.

Third place went to another six-from-six lifter, Dhanush Loganathan from India, second in the snatch behind Delos Santos and made 88-112-200.

Both the 15-year-old Philippines medallists went straight into weightlifting without taking up another sport, Delos Santos aged nine and Borres aged eight – and both said their ultimate ambition is “to be Olympic champion”.

On day two Angeline Colonia - sister of the Rio 2016 Olympian Nestor Colonia and coached by the 1988 Olympian Gregorio Colonia, her uncle – has the top entry total in the women’s 45kg.

She is the only female athlete competing in Durres who holds a current youth world record, a snatch of 62kg in the 40kg category.

Another Philippines lifter, Albert Delos Santos (no relation to Keil), is a strong contender in the men’s 61kg where he has the second highest entry total, and on Monday the fifth and last member of the Philippines team, Rosalinda Faustino, has the top entry total in the women’s 55kg.