Olympian Carlos Yulo and Fil-American Aleah Finnegan delivered brilliant performances as the Philippine flag waved proudly on Saturday in ongoing men’s and women’s finals the Asian Senior Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Singapore.
Yulo displayed near-flawless form in ruling the men’s floor exercises finals to claim 15.3 points for the gold while Finnegan settled for a bronze medal in the women’s apparatus action.
Getting a score of 9.00 out of a possible 10 in execution, the 23-year-old Yulo then got a difficulty mark of 6.9 points from the judges.
This allowed Yulo to keep the title that he won last year in Doha, Qatar.
Yulo continued to fortify his bid for a second stint in the Olympics as the win gave him a ticket to the world championship which also serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the end, Yulo was almost a full point ahead of silver medalist Dimitriy Patanin of Kazakhstan (14.366).
China’s Su Weide took in the bronze with 14.333, with Japanese Sasaki Fumiya in the range at fourth with 14.233.
This will be Yulo’s second medal after he earlier claimed a silver in the individual all-around finals the other day.
Yulo’s cousin and teammate John Ivan Cruz landed with 11.433.
Meanwhile, Fil-American Aleah Finnegan, who finished second in the qualification, settled for the bronze medal in the women’s vault finals.
The 20-year-old Finnegan placed behind top qualifier Yeo Seojeong of Korea, who tallied 13.717 points and Uzbekistan standout Oksana Chusovitini took second in 13.517.
Finnegan, who is from St. Louis, Missouri, scored 13.483, and she got her highest scores of 4.6 points in execution and 9.2 in difficulty in Finnegan’s first routine.
Yulo later settled for fourth with 14.033 in the ring finals.
Lan Xingyu of China took the gold (15.2) while reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Nguyen Van Kam Phong claimed the silver (14.366), and Hong Kong Ng Kiu Chung placed third with 14.1.
Fil-Am gymnast Emma Malabuyo finished fifth in the women’s floor exercise finals with 13.033 points, with China’s Zhang Qingying taking the gold with 13.533, Shin Solyi of Korea (13.233) and Korean Lee Yunseo(13.166) settling for the silver and bronze.
So far, Yulo, Finnegan, and another Fil-Am in Kylee Kvamme already earned slots in the World Championships set in Antwerp, Belgium late September.
Yulo qualified in the floor exercises, the all-around, and the rings, while Finnegan made it in the vault with Kvamme after finishing 14th in the individual all-around.