JAKARTA—Coming off a two-gold achievement at last year’s Paris Olympic Games, Carlos Yulo is aiming for another golden double as he qualified in both the men’s vault and floor exercise at the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta.
Competing in Subdivision 7 at the Indonesia Arena on Sunday, Yulo was cheered on by a lively Filipino crowd, including gymnastics’ chief Cynthia Carrion. He secured the top spot in the men’s floor exercise with an impressive average score of 14.750 points.
The small but powerful Filipino gymnast showed stunning form on his first vault, landing solidly for a score of 14.90. After a revised routine on his second attempt, he scored 14.600, smiling and waving to the crowd after a strong performance.
In close second was Armenian Arthur Davtyan (14.566) while Ukraine’s Nathan Chepurnyi was running third (14.316) in the PH national team stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.
In his other favorite event, Yulo had a clean if not exactly spectacular performance, twirling and tumbling his way to second place in scoring 14.560 points closely behind Fil-British pacesetterJake Jarman (14.700) while Kameron Nelson (14.30) third.
The floor and vault were the same events where he garnered gold in an unforgettable performance in the French capital that was the highlight of the country’s centennial celebration of participation in the modern Olympic Games.
The pint-sized Pinoy sports hero will be well-rested when he competes in the floor exercise finals on Friday with the battle for the vault gold the next day in the elite gymnastics competition that has drawn 476 top athletes from 76 countries from all over the world.
“First of all, I want to thank God for my performance. I am also just grateful that I was safe (from any mishap). I am just really grateful that I got to compete, show my performance and come back here in a good state,” Yulo said after his performance.
“While I wasn’t able to do the all-around, I am still proud that I am here and still aiming for the best,” added the athlete, who was recovering from wrist injuries so was unable to compete in all six apparatuses during his build-up to the global gymnastics showcase here.
“We’re proud that Carlos was able to perform well and make it to the finals of both events. This was our aim so, hopefully, he will duplicate his golden performances in Paris,” Carrion said.
“We pray that our Filipino fans back home will pray and rally behind him once again in both finals.”
Yulo revealed that he was anxious about his floor exercise, revealing that “it was really that totally good today. After seeing it on the vide replay, I felt that I could do better than that. But, hey, I am in the finals so I am really grateful.”
The gymnast, however, was pleased with his showing on the vault because “I felt I was really powerful; yeah, I felt good.”
He will be the last PH gymnast standing after his teammates failed to hurdle their respective qualifying stints.
All making their debuts at the worlds, Juancho Miguel Besana wound up in 39th place in the all-around with 68.645 points, failing to make the cut of 24 athletes to the finals.
Ivan Cruz finished 66th overall in the vault (12.000) while Justine Ace de Leon 45th in the rings (12.200) where only the top eight in each individual event advanced to the finals.
