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Caloy Yulo sets his sights to Worlds, Olympics after 4-medal haul in Asia

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Manolo Pedralvez

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Carlos Yulo shows golden form on the parallel bars. Handout" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/06/18/06182023-yulovaultpix.jpg"/><figcaption>Carlos Yulo shows golden form on the parallel bars. Handout</figcaption></figure></div>With three golds, one silver and a bronze medal to show for his efforts, Carlos Edriel Yulo emerged as the most bemedalled gymnast once again at the end of the 10th Artistic Gymnastics Senior Asian Championships at the OCBC Arena in Singapore Sunday.But there might have been a point where Yulo must have thought that he might have lost a treasured gold after an uncharacteristic lapse in one of his pet events – the vault. Expected to set the tone as the first performer in the apparatus, the pint-sized Pinoy dynamo had a faulty dismount on his first try, nearly stumbling, which resulted in a woeful score of 13.966, before recovering with a 14.633 on his second run for an average score of 14.299 points.This was a pedestrian performance compared to his previous outings, considering he won the event in the world championships in Kitakyushu, Japan in 2021 with a score of 14.916, and had 14.884 points in clinching the same event in last year’s tournament in Doha, Qatar.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/18/23/carlos-yulo-rules-vault-in-asian-championships">Carlos Yulo rules vault, parallel bars in Asian Championships</a></li></ul>But as fate would have it -- and much to Yulo’s relief -- the rest of the seven other finalists were just as erratic as he was, with Uzbekistan’s Abdulaziz Mirvaliev, who fell out of bounds on his first try, winding up with silver (14.083) and South Korea’s Kim Jaeho the bronze (13.766).In contrast, it was the Filipino’s turn to play catch up to Japanese nemesis and former world junior champion Oka Shinnosuke, who had grabbed the provisional lead in the parallel bars with an impressive score of 15.133 points. With grit and determination on his face, Yulo, who was the second-to-the last entry, surged past Shinnosuke, the men’s all-around champion, this time with a superb routine that netted him 15.266 points for the gold, to the delight of a small but animated Filipino gallery at the arena. As an encore, he ended his memorable day with a bronze medal in the horizontal bar (14.033 points) behind China’s Tian Hao (14.533) and Shinnosuke (14.333), who settled for the gold and silver medals, respectively.Yulo eclipsed his haul of three golds and one silver in last year’s tournament, while also punching a ticket to the 42nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships slated Sept. 30 to Oct. 8 in Antwerp, Belgium. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/17/23/carlos-yulo-retains-floor-exercise-title-captures-gold-in-asian-meet">Carlos Yulo retains floor exercise title, captures gold in Asian meet</a></li></ul>The Filipina gymnasts also enjoyed success on the last day of the competitions as US-based Emma Malabuyo and Aleah Finnegan reached the podium with a silver (13.166) and bronze (12.833) in the floor exercise and balance beam, respectively.“What Caloy (Yulo’s nickname) accomplished here was truly phenomenal, and he also had a little bit of luck because the other athletes in the vault also made costly errors,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion pointed. “But now he must focus on the worlds and then the Olympics. Because those competitions are on another level. We hope we can build his mental strength in his preparations for these competitions,” Carrion stressed. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/11/06/22/caloy-yulo-clinches-2-medals-at-gymnastics-worlds">Yulo clinches vault silver, parallel bars bronze at gymnastics world championships</a></li></ul>The Singapore meet turned out to be best showing of the national artistic gymnastics squad under Carrion’s stewardship for a couple of reasons.For the first time, Yulo won’t be the only Filipino at the worlds since Finnegan and national team debutant Kylee Kvamme also secured tickets to the Belgian city where the competition took its world bow in 1903.The Filipino campaigners were also a surprise second overall in the Asian championships -- and the best in Southeast Asia -- among 21 countries with three golds, two silvers and three bronzes, including Finnegan’s bronze in the women’s vault last Saturday.They settled for runner-up honors behind China (3-2-3), relegating powerhouse Japan (1-3-2) to third place earning a trophy for GAP for the distinction, according to Carrion. The national men’s artistic gymnastics squad of Yulo, Justine Ace de Leon, Ivan Cruz and Juancho Miguel Besana also finished in seventh place in the team event, two rungs higher than their performance in Doha, Qatar last year. Besana and Cruz, who were gold medalists in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in the men’s vault and floor exercise, respectively, last month, also reached the finals of these events.

With three golds, one silver and a bronze medal to show for his efforts, Carlos Edriel Yulo emerged as the most bemedaled gymnast once again at the end of the 10th Artistic Gymnastics Senior Asian Championships at the OCBC Arena in Singapore Sunday.