Samoan weightlifter, Iuniarra Sipaia has made history at the International Weightlifting Federation World Cup Grand Prix 2023 by winning a silver medal and coming second to the current world champion American lifter.

Weightlifting coach, Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork told this newspaper that the Samoan lifters continue to lift the bar for Samoa in the sport of weightlifting and Iuniarra's silver medal-winning performance is another one for the books.

"Another successful day yesterday and history in the making with Iuniarra Sipaia winning a silver medal in the Women's 87+kg during the IWF World Cup Grand Prix 2023 Doha Qatar," he said.

"Iuniarra narrowly lost the gold medal to the USA lifter who is also the 2023 world champion. Again, this is the first time we have won medals in a Wolrd Cup event."

Tuaopepe continued to acknowledge the hard-earned efforts of Iuniarra in achieving this milestone in her weightlifting career.

Before Iuniarra's history-making performance, Samoa's golden boy, Don Opeloge also competed in the same tournament and claimed a bronze medal for Samoa setting two Commonwealth records and two Oceania records earlier in the week.

Winning the gold medal in that event was Fares Elbakh from Qatar, he is the Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalist while winning the silver medal was Huanhua Liu of China won gold at the World Championship in 2023. 

The two lifters' goals had always been about making it to the Olympic Games in Paris and putting Samoa on the map and in September this year, they kept the nation's dream of attaining their first gold medal at an Olympic Games by having an outstanding performance at the International Weightlifting Federation 2023 World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and grabbing spots for Paris next year.

Don was the first to secure a spot for the Olympic Games 2024 with an outstanding 12kg improvement and a new Commonwealth record at the World Championships.

Iuniarra Sipaia also fought hard, missing the bronze medal by 1kg. Coming back from a back injury, she has made Samoa proud, ranking sixth in the world. She has also officially qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.